For the third consecutive year, the Jumbos can proudly call themselves regional champions. Tufts raced to a dominating first-place finish at NCAA New England Regionals on Saturday, accumulating 62 points and easily passing its nearest competitor, Wesleyan (118).
The Jumbos' victory means that they will be making their eighth trip to NCAA National Div. III Championship, to be held in Delaware, Ohio this Saturday.
Once again, depth mixed with consistency was the Jumbos' formula for success. Of the seven varsity runners, six won the honor of an all-regional finish, with the team's seventh runner, senior Kyle Doran, missing the cutoff by a single place.
Coach Ethan Barron was ecstatic over his team's performance.
"It was definitely a great race," Barron said. "Everyone ran great and if we run like this next week, we should be in great shape."
Unlike the majority of the team's races this season, it was junior Josh Kennedy who led the way for the Jumbos, finishing third overall with a time of 25:23. Senior co-captain Matt Lacey finished the race eighth overall with an impressive time of 25:31 on somewhat of an off day.
Junior Justin Chung (26:02) and sophomore Chris Kantos (26:10) put in the surprise performances of the day, finishing 13th and 18th overall while senior co-captain Matt Fortin (26:16) rounded off the Jumbo scorers, finishing 20th. Senior Neil Orfield (26:23) and Doran (26:30) finished 28th and 36th, respectively, just seconds away from points-earning positions.
The Jumbos' depth of strong performances came as no surprise to Barron.
"Everyone ran a great race," Barron said. "Justin Chung ran the race of the season and Kantos ran great, although I think he can even run better and stronger. Orfield also ran extremely smoothly while Lacey put in his usual good race. Everyone ran well and we just missed having all seven place All-Regional."
While Kennedy and Lacey have both been solid for the Jumbos all season, the usual roles were reversed when Kennedy placed ahead of his senior teammate. While the two runners usually train and run together during the week, Lacey has finished ahead of Kennedy in every race of the season. However, this time Kennedy took top honors for the Jumbos.
"The boys train together and always run very close," Barron said. "I think Josh just felt it a little more this week."
Kennedy agreed with his coach.
"I felt pretty good towards the latter part of the race," Kennedy said. "I ran the last mile really hard. Lacey was with me for the first two miles and then he ran ahead and I think he wasn't feeling as good in the last mile."
Now brimming with confidence, the Jumbos are looking towards the final race of the season with excitement and anticipation. Bumps and bruises aside, the team will put it all on the line as it tries to finish a fantastic season on a high note.
"If we run a race similar to the one we ran this past week, we definitely should be in position to finish in the top four," Kennedy said.
Barron shared a similar view, but also warned that anything can happen in the final race of the season as the nation's top teams turn up the intensity level.
"We are going into the race ranked fifth in the country," Barron said. "But I think we are actually a lot stronger than that and I expect a podium finish. However, if you are able to be thought of as a podium-rated team, you have a good chance of winning it all. Anything can happen between the top four teams and it just depends on how the race unfolds."
After finishing sixth in last season's race, a top-four finish would definitely be an improvement. But knowing Barron and his team, the Jumbos will be looking to surprise all their critics once again. The strategy will remain the same, and the Jumbos will take a strong group of seven to Ohio next week with hopes of returning with a national championship.
