For the better part of a decade, the men's cross country team measured its postseason aspirations in part by comparing itself to a golden standard: the 1996 squad that finished seventh at nationals. The goal was always to top that team's finish, which last year's team did by virtue of its new school-record sixth place finish in Wisconsin.
With that accomplished, this year's edition immediately focused on new goals - bettering last year's team and securing a top-four podium finish at nationals. Tufts is expected to qualify for nationals in November, and when it does, the runners expect a few Jumbos from the past to be there urging them on. This is the way things work in Tufts men's cross country program.
"One of the best parts [of the Tufts men's cross country team] is that you feel like you're not really running for yourself as much as you're running for a program," former captain Brian McNamara (LA '05) said. "You want to compete for everyone who ran before you. And it will never end because there are always the guys that come after you."
Senior co-captain Matt Lacey expressed similar sentiments after an anonymous alumnus donor paid for the team to travel to Wisconsin for a race two weeks ago.
It was an incredibly generous gift from an individual, but, noted former captain and 2005 graduate Peter Bromka, "Having a donor who can afford to put the team where it should be isn't isolated; it's a result of having many alumni who feel strongly about the program."
And there are many. Indeed, while the gift is perhaps the most tangible example of the long-distance program's self-devotion, it is far from the only evidence. For years now, alumni have flocked to the annual Labor Day weekend Alumni Run, former coach Connie Putnam's brainchild at Grafton, to race against the current edition and follow up with a barbeque.
Numerous past and present runners said the race was crucial in helping alumni stay connected to the program by turning names and times of present Jumbos into faces and personalities. On the flip side, the event also helps newcomers to the program understand the depth of feeling that exists.
"The freshmen haven't really even been in school yet, but they already know 20 guys on the team, and then they come to the race and see all these alumni behind them and the program, supporting them, there for job networking, anything, and they understand the bonds they can build with each other through the team," Justin Lewis (LA '02) said.
"I remember that really struck a chord with me," said J.R. Cruz (LA '02), a former captain and currently a senior in Tufts Medical School.
"I would say [the alumni presence] is a large part of why I wanted to be part of the team from the moment I started talking to Connie," Bromka said. "That was always his dream to build up that kind of community and build momentum year-to-year."
That dream has, for the most part, become a reality.
While it's inevitable that alumni begin to drift away the further they get from graduation, the squad keeps them in the loop with a weekly e-mail update.
"It helps," Cruz said. "Because that way alumni who can't come to meets or who live in different parts of the country or have become a little detached can still follow the team."
Still, those who no longer live in the Boston area and can't make it to Grafton meets or the annual indoor "Has-Beens" mile are by no means detached from the program.
"We expect alumni at every big race," said assistant coach Rod Hemingway (LA '98), who volunteered to help out the team this season in addition to his fulltime job. "There are alumni who live in the Midwest, and they come to nationals and cheer us on."
Already, Bromka said, a contingent of recent alums is planning to fly out to Ohio for nationals. And an alum there has offered his house for the inevitable caravan of junior varsity Jumbos making their way to nationals to cheer on their teammates.
"Anywhere we go in the country we have alumni who are not only willing and able to help but angry if we don't seek them out," Hemingway said. "We feel an identity with the cross country program. I can go a couple of years without talking to an alum, but then as soon as we see each other, within five minutes it's as if we had talked to each other an hour ago."
Unlike other single-season teams, most cross-county runners compete year-round, following up their fall season by running indoor track in the winter and outdoor in the spring.
"It definitely forges a very strong bond," Hemingway said. "Running with each other every day, even on our off days, eating with each other afterwards. On any given night, there will be 25 guys sitting at a table in Dewick. It's always been a tradition and a culture."
Being a collegiate athlete for three seasons involves a sacrifice which all members of the program share.
"You hear a lot of [non-athletes] talking about going out on Tuesday nights or Friday nights, and you might think, 'What did I sacrifice? What did I give up?' But it's because of the team and the sense of community that you can feel like you're not giving that much up," Bromka said.
It may sound corny, but it's true.
"We feel it helped to develop us as men, and it bonded us with each other and gave us a loyalty," Hemingway said.
A big part of this sense of spirit and loyalty stems from Putnam, who retired this fall after 21 years at the helm of the program.
"There's definitely a feeling among the alumni, 'Let's rally a lot of enthusiasm and support right now, and keep a good thing going, and support the new coaches and new kids,'" Bromka said.
Hemingway summed up Putnam's philosophy as follows:
"You may not have been No. 1 on the team, you may have been No. 15 on the team, but that didn't preclude you from being a great success outside of sports.
"And Connie made a lot of runners see that," he said. "He instilled in all of his athletes the necessity of being proud of your performance and also the ability to go on and compete outside of running. He wanted us to be great men first and great athletes second."
The devotion is not only to Tufts, but to running itself.
"Track is a lifetime sport," coach Ethan Barron said. "Once you're a runner, you're probably going to keep running in some way, shape, or form for the rest of your life."
"Definitely, [the idea of track being a lifetime sport is] what makes it possible for the Alumni Race and 'Has-Been' mile to work so well," said Cruz, who this weekend will go to New York to participate in a common alumni pastime: running a marathon, in this case his fifth.
And once you're into the daily grind of the real world, it always helps to have a friend to run with. Just ask Bromka, who lives in Central Square with four other alums.
"Four of us went out running at 7:15 this morning before work," Bromka said. "We're not running anywhere near the intensity or the level those guys are doing on the team; we're just getting our miles in."
Bromka and housemate and former All-American Nate Brigham have a deal.
"Unless you cancel the night before, we're running the next day," Bromka said. "If one of us tries to sleep in, the other one is going to wake him up."
