With the shadow of All-New England's, NESCAC's, and ECAC's looming large, the men's cross country team buckled down to the task this weekend, winning the annual Jumbo Invitational for the third consecutive year.
Tufts finished first with 35 points, narrowly edging out NESCAC rival Amherst, who finished second with 36 points. The four-team race was rounded out by Bates who finished third with 51 points and Fitchburg State who finished last with 120 points.
"Beating Amherst was definitely a big confidence booster," senior co-captain Josh Kennedy said. "We have to remember that it's the races later on in the season that count, but it still feels good beating a NESCAC rival."
The Jumbos' top five were among the first 11 runners to cross the tape. In the absence of many of his teammates on Saturday, senior Justin Chung led the charge for the third meet in a row, finishing first for the Jumbos and second overall with a time of 26:27. Freshman Nick Welch (26:56) and junior Michael Cummings (27:09) followed close on his heels, finishing sixth and ninth, respectively. Junior Dave Sorensen (27:10) and freshman Jesse Faller (27:10) rounded off the Jumbos' top five and finished 10th and 11th respectively.
Even though Amherst put three runners between Chung and Welch, the Jumbos' pack of Cummings, Sorensen, and Faller worked together, and all three eventually caught Amherst's fourth runner, junior Mike Harbus (12th, 27:12) to give the Jumbos the narrow margin of victory.
"It was a great race," coach Ethan Barron said. "I love being part of a team that can win the close races and I think this race showed the true heart of the team."
The cross country team rarely has homefield advantage, spending most of the season traveling around New England, so the weekend was a chance to defend its Grafton course and play to a home crowd.
"It was really great to win our only home meet of the season," senior co-captain Nate Cleveland added. "There was a great spectator turn-out and it was good to win while also being able to rest some of our key runners."
One of those runners absent from Saturday's race was Kennedy, who is still recovering from a minor knee injury.
"We wanted to rest Kennedy," Barron said. "Grafton is a challenging course and it would have been irresponsible on my part to bring him back to competition on that track. When Josh is ready and feels healthy, he'll be back and not many people will be able to compete with him."
Despite the absence of runners like Kennedy and seniors Dan Sullivan and Chad Uy, the Jumbos were once again bolstered by the strong performances of their freshmen.
"The freshmen ran very well," Cleveland said. "They are working well within our strategy and are doing a good job of staying close in the first part of the race, and then accelerating and finishing strong."
While the performances of veterans and rookies alike played a crucial role in the victory, no one person had more of an impact than Chung who, for the third consecutive race, placed the highest out of all Tufts runners.
"Justin is continuing to prove to both himself and the region what he is capable of doing," Barron said. "He is one of the best runners in the region and while both our captains have been struggling with injuries, he has really stepped up."
Cleveland agreed with Barron, citing the consistency of Chung's performances as a crucial component of the Jumbos' success.
"We are now starting to expect these things out of Justin," Cleveland said. "That's kind of unfair, but when he is running this well, we aren't as surprised."
The Jumbos will now look toward the latter part of the season, where they hope their early-season form will continue to develop and improve. While the Jumbos seem to be hitting their stride physically, they are also starting to feel more and more confident with every performance. Riding this early success, Barron and his team are ready to bear down and turn up the intensity as the Jumbos enter the latter part of the season.
The team is preparing for Saturday's annual Keene State Invitational, a race that Barron will again use to rest most of his runners.
"The Jumbo Invitational and the Keene State Invitational are the last races before the real grind starts," Barron said. "We'll rest our top seven at Keene State so they can get some freshness back in their legs. After that, our strategy will be less developmental and more intense."
With All-New England's and NESCAC's coming up in October, Barron hopes to have his team firing on all cylinders as the Jumbos look to continue their march towards the NCAA Championships in Ohio.
