After a rough season last year, the Jumbos returned to form in 2007.
The men's cross country team came into the season off a disappointing 2006 campaign, in which it mustered just an eighth-place finish at the NESCAC Championships, and in the process took a step down from its status as a regional power. The team also saw its run of back-to-back top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships come to an end, as the Jumbos failed to qualify for Nationals for the first time since 2002.
But this season's squad showed little signs of a hangover, rebounding to post top-five finishes at NESCACs and Regionals and earn an at-large bid to Nationals.
"All of us are looking back on it as a very successful season," sophomore Nick Welch said. "I know for everybody that was a part of last year's team that this was definitely a step up to last year in many respects. We made it to Nationals, we ran many more solid races, and even off the track, we were a more cohesive group."
For much of the season, the Jumbos' chances of earning an NCAA bid were in the balance. The team failed to capture first place in its lone home meet, the Sept. 22 Jumbo Invitational, for the first time since 2003 and managed just a middle-of-the-pack, fifth-place finish amidst messy conditions at the NESCAC Championships five weeks later.
But Tufts made a statement on Nov. 10 when the team placed three runners in the top 20 and raced to a third-place showing at the New England Regional Championships, finishing ahead of regional powers such as Trinity and Bowdoin. The Jumbos' performance against the 47-team field, easily its strongest of the season, convinced the NCAA selection committee to award the squad an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships for the ninth time in program history.
As was the case so often for the Jumbos in 2007, sophomore Jesse Faller had a huge day at Regionals, posting the team's best time at 25:04 and finishing third overall. Coming off a rookie season in which he never finished in Tufts' top three, Faller had a breakout sophomore campaign, coming in as one of the team's top two in seven different races, garnering All-NESCAC and All-Region honors along the way.
Faller capped off his strong season with a team-best time of 25:03 at Nationals, good for 18th place overall and earning him All-American honors. Tufts as a team finished 26th in the 32-team field.
"The only meet that we really underperformed at was Nationals," senior tri-captain Dave Sorensen wrote in an e-mail to the Daily. "And while it would have been nice for everyone, and not just Jesse, to have their best races of the season at Nationals, it would have been nicer to have a better finish to cap off a great season.
"I think to a degree, having no expectations for Nationals hurt our team performance," he continued. "Since we weren't ranked all year, I don't know how much we really believed in ourselves over other nationally ranked teams seemingly better than us."
The team will head into next season, however, looking to regain that national reputation. The team boasts a strong corps of young talent that debuted for the Jumbos this year. Freshman Greg Pallotta ran on the varsity for the Jumbos all season long while classmate Jeff Ragazzini ran in the team's top five in two of the first three races of the season. Freshmen Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot joined Pallotta at Nationals, gaining valuable big-race experience, while Ragazzini served as their alternate.
"I think they did a great job," Welch said. "We had three freshmen run in our top eight, which is great because they earned those spots and ran really well. Adapting to cross country is like adapting to college life, which could be tough.
"Greg Pallotta was solid all year," Welch continued. "He never fell out of our top five, which is an accomplishment. We owe a lot of our success to him for stepping up."
While the Jumbos will return a significant portion of their 2007 talent, they will graduate five seniors including Sorensen and fellow tri-captain Chris Kantos.
Sorensen provided a steady presence for the Jumbos all season, finishing as one of Tufts' top two runners eight times this year and posting the team's lone top-10 finish at the NESCAC Championships.
Kantos, meanwhile, rebounded from an early-season back injury that cost him the first three races of the season to finish 30th at NESCACs and 16th at Regionals. Despite boasting a talented group ready to take over the reins, Tufts knows replacing its graduating seniors will not be an easy task.
"It's a process we go through every year, and this year won't be any easier," Welch said. "[The seniors] are all great leaders, and their shoes will definitely be hard to fill. As much as it is challenging to find it within ourselves to find new leadership, a lot of their legacy is that they have created the quality to be a good leader in all of us."
"I only expect bigger things out of the freshman and sophomore classes as they become more experienced and better runners," Sorensen added. "I have confidence in their potential and will leave knowing that they are able to create a great team."
