Fighting through a chilly Wesleyan running course, the men's cross country team was able to retain its crown as NESCAC champion for the third consecutive year on Saturday.
The Jumbos, despite not running their best race were able to edge out NESCAC rival Williams who finished with 62 points, four behind Tufts' 58. Host Wesleyan (99) finished a respectable third, but once again, it was the Jumbos who dominated the event.
Despite their success, the Tufts frontrunners experienced a bit of an off week compared to their peak form, yet still managed to put up impressive times. Senior co-captain Matt Lacey (25:28) and junior Josh Kennedy (25:42) finished fourth and seventh, respectively. However, it was the improved performance from senior co-captain Matt Fortin (26:07), who finished eighth overall, which helped the Jumbos race to victory.
Assistant coach Rod Hemingway was pleased with Fortin's race and the fact his captain is peaking at just the right time.
"Fortin understands that in a cross country season, the goal is to peak in performance towards the end of the season and he is definitely doing that now," Hemingway said. "He is going to perform like this for the rest of the season and I was very impressed with his times."
The recurring theme of the race seemed to be fatigue, as the Jumbos, fresh off an intense practice week, were unable to run to the fullest of their potential.
"We executed our goal by winning the race," Hemingway said. "But it played out differently than we had expected. Lacey and Kennedy ran a bit slower, but we expected that since we planned this week to be a bit of a down week."
However, the Jumbos showed they can still hold their own when they have to rely on their middle runners. Junior Justin Chung (26:21) finished fourth for Tufts and 16th overall while sophomore Chris Kantos (26:35), running in his first competitive race all season, ran impressively finishing 23rd.
Senior co-captain Matt Lacey stressed the importance of Kantos' performance.
"It was great to see him do so well," Lacey said. "This is definitely what we have been expecting of Kantos all season long. The scary thing is he can still do even better. It was a hard training week but we were able to win because the people who needed to step up definitely stepped up."
While the Tufts campus was covered in snow, Wesleyan was limited to cold temperatures. However, the weather still took a toll on the Jumbos. Senior Neil Orfield, while usually keeping pace with Chung, fell back in the pack as his back began to tighten up due the cold temperatures. Orfield (27:08) finished 53rd.
The Jumbos now look towards ECACs next week and Regionals in two weeks filled with confidence.
"We definitely feel confident and strong since we didn't run to the fullest of our capabilities [at NESCACs]," Lacey said.
Hemingway agreed with Lacey on the Jumbos' performance.
"We ran a B+ race," Hemingway said. "Williams ran an A race and because of this, I'm really confident our middle seven runners can still beat them next week at ECACs."
Coach Ethan Barron, along with Hemingway, while giving their top seven runners a rest week, must now concentrate on getting their middle seven prepared for next weekend's ECACs at Connecticut College. Tufts has won the ECAC championship the last two seasons. With sophomore Dave Sorensen (27:15) finishing 50th overall at Wesleyan and junior Nate Cleveland winning his first collegiate race in the open five kilometer race, the Jumbos should fair well against their regional rivals.
"Sorensen will lead us," Hemingway said confidently. "Along with freshmen Andrew Lee and sophomore Anyenda Inyagwa, we should be able to do really well against schools like Williams. It's going to be challenge, but we've won this race the past few years and definitely expect to do it again."
