The men's cross country team failed to come home from last weekend's ECAC's with first place, but the Jumbos can still make it two out of three in the championship season with a victory this weekend at the Division III New England Regional Championship.
After edging out Williams to win NESCAC's for the third straight year two weekends ago, Tufts has an opportunity to become three-peat champions of New England on Saturday at Springfield. More important than a victory, however, is what a victory would bring: a trip next weekend to Ohio-Wesleyan, just outside of Columbus, for nationals.
"It's not the end of the world if we don't win," senior co-captain Matt Lacey said. "I honestly can't see anyone else but Williams beating us, so worst case we still finish second and go on to nationals."
"We have goals that are oriented to this weekend and goals that are oriented to next weekend," coach Ethan Barron confirmed. "And in the general scheme of things, next weekend is more important."
Still, there's no doubting that Tufts wants to win Saturday.
"Definitely," Lacey said. "Our goal from the beginning of the season has been to win NESCAC's, ECAC's and New England's."
The top three teams from the region will qualify for nationals, as opposed to the top four in years past, giving the Jumbos a smaller margin for error. Still, the team is confident enough in its ability that it doesn't feel the change puts any more pressure on them.
"We're definitely still in a comfortable position," Lacey said.
"You never want to put the cart before the horse, but this season has been geared towards going to nationals and getting ready for nationals and doing well there, because we view this as a national caliber team," coach Ethan Barron said.
Assistant coach Rod Hemingway insisted the team wasn't going to get caught looking beyond regionals.
"In no way, shape, or form are we looking beyond this weekend," he said. "We have to run our race, and if we do we'll emerge victorious and then we can focus on nationals."
Williams, which garnered 62 points at NESCAC's to Tufts' 58, has a legitimate shot to end the Jumbos' reign as the region's champions. Eph senior Neal Holtschulte won NESCAC's while junior Stephen Wills was close behind, finishing third overall. Lacey finished right on Wills' heels in fourth place, while Kennedy and Fortin finished seventh and eighth overall, respectively.
After the race, Barron was named NESCAC's Co-Coach of the Year along with Wesleyan coach John Crooke.
"That was pretty cool," Lacey said. "We all appreciate everything he's done, being here and being up in the air because the administration doesn't know what it's going to do with him next year. Hopefully he'll get recognized again [at regionals] because the more he gets recognized, the more likely it is that he can somehow stick around."
"Ethan has done a tremendous job with all the responsibility he had this year," Hemingway said. "But we always say it's about the guys and the hard work they've done."
Lacey and fellow senior co-captain Matt Fortin, classmates Kyle Doran and Neil Orfield, juniors Josh Kennedy and Justin Chung, and sophomore Chris Kantos will represent Tufts on Saturday. Hemingway said he expects all of them to finish in the top 35
"We're very tough, very difficult to beat when we're rested like we are," Hemingway said.
The idea of the Jumbos charging as favorites towards their third consecutive New England Championship would have been absurd just a few years ago; while always competitive in the region and a contender to go to nationals, only in the last three seasons has Tufts established itself as New England's best Div. III squad.
"It's nice to see the program at this point," Barron said. "When this year's seniors were freshmen, you could see the talent but it was young, and you knew if they worked hard and stayed focus they could do some great things."
"It's a unique opportunity," Hemingway said of the chance to three-peat. "We've reached the stage where we always expect success. It's not being cocky; it's knowing we have the necessary preparation."
In a way, it has almost become a worn-out storyline, and there is not much more the team can say about it.
"Hopefully we'll have more good things to say after this weekend," Lacey said.
