Kaity Storck And Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff
Seniors Kaity Storck and Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff won the Women's Atlantic Coast Championships on Friday and Saturday, rallying from a 12th-place finish in first race to take four of the next eight. The two seniors, sailing 420s, beat a field of 18 teams from all over East Coast to take the prestigious championships.
After a disappointing finish in the first race, the duo went on to take first in four of the next eight races. Stork and Gibbons-Neff tallied just 38 points, beating the next closest team, junior Jane Macky and sophomore Marla Menninger, by nine points. Combined with an 11th-place finish out of senior Chryssa Rask and freshman Margaret Rew in the B division, the Tufts women took fourth overall at the regatta.
Storck and Gibbons-Neff added another accomplishment to an already impressive season for Tufts sailing. The Jumbos fielded a world champion in Tomas Hornos in September and sophomore Andrew Criezis finished seventh in the ICSA/Vanguard Single-handed National Championship last week.
Jesse Faller, Cross Country
With a shot at extending its season on the line, the men's cross country team needed all of its members to deliver their best races of the season if they hoped to reach the NCAA National Championships. The Jumbos did just that, thanks in large part to a phenomenal race from sophomore Jesse Faller.
Faller's third-place performance on Saturday helped the Jumbos finish third at the Div. III Northeast Regional meet. The sophomore dominated the eight-kilometer course at Connecticut College, finishing in a time of 25:04. It was by far the fastest time of the season for Faller, who bettered his time from the NESCAC championships in Williamstown two weeks ago by over a minute and a half and finished just nine seconds behind winner Edgar Kosgey of Williams.
Faller, a native of Burlington, Mass., has emerged this season as one of the top runners for coach Ethan Barron. He has frequently been in the Jumbos' top two along with senior Dave Sorensen, after spending most of last season as the fifth runner on the team.
Faller and the Jumbos earned an at-large berth to next Saturday's Div. III NCAA Championships. The race will take place at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.
