In cross country, the majority of the season is spent preparing for more important November meets, and the team usually works to get their runners to hit their stride in the postseason.
But the Jumbos put their teamwork and depth on display early in the season, including Saturday's fifth-place finish at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational.
The team's top five runners finished within 43 seconds of each other. Senior Justin Chung, a key contributor to last year's team, led the way, finishing the five-mile course in 26:18 for 18th place overall. Junior Dave Sorensen (28th, 26:34) and freshmen Nick Welch (29th, 26:40) stuck together throughout most of the race, and Jesse Faller (36th, 26:57), and junior Michael Cummings (43rd, 27:01) followed closely behind to round out Tufts' top five.
There was very little separation during the race as team members worked hard to pace themselves, gunning for a good pack time. Two groups formed at the start of the race. The first of these included Chung, Welch, Sorensen, and freshman Peter Browne, while Cummings, Faller, freshman Ben Silver and senior Dan Sullivan stuck together in the second Jumbo grouping.
"If we can run in groups, it makes it more of a team sport," Welch said. "Utilizing that it's a team sport allows us to help each other and pull each other along through the race."
Coach Ethan Barron instructed the runners to work together through the first few miles to stay in small packs, before splitting up and turning up the heat during the last part of the last course.
"A pack of runners will always be able to put together a better race than an individual," Barron said. "[Forming groups] can almost become instinctual."
This teamwork served its purpose, as the team placed fifth out of 29 schools at Saturday's meet, scoring 138 points. NESCAC rival Trinity took first, while Amherst edged the Jumbos by four points for fourth place. Non-league foes Stonehill and Brandeis finished second and third, respectively.
The Jumbos were not at full-strength. Senior Josh Kennedy, a top-three finisher at last year's NCAA New England Championship and usually the team's top runner, was sidelined with a bruised knee, and Browne battled a fever during the race.
Despite graduating four of their top seven varsity runners from last season and losing another, junior Chris Kantos, to study abroad, the Jumbo recruiting class has stepped in and proven effective. On Saturday, the team put four freshmen in their top seven. Those four are among a large freshman class of 10 runners who have joined the team this season.
"It's mostly just a lot of fun and exciting to try and be a contributing part of the team," Welch said. "It's exciting to be part of our freshmen class as a team, because socially we get a long very well, too."
Additionally, junior Jesse Dunklee, who took 13th in the sub-varsity race in a time of 27:42, has recently stepped up for the Jumbos. Dunklee had taken his sophomore year off and had not planned on running this season but joined the team after a good finish at the team's annual Alumni Run.
"This weekend was just a glimpse into what he is capable of," Barron said of Dunklee.
With Kennedy expecting to make his return within the next couple of weeks, the team should be ready to defend their three-time NESCAC title.
"A lot of people in the region aren't giving us the credit that we're due," Barron said.
Barron is aiming for a better season than last year's fifth-place finish at Nationals, the team's highest ever, but refuses to make predictions.
"My goal is to have the team succeed at reaching its full potential," Barron said. "Success and winning are two different things."
