Tufts junior Jesse Faller was the first Div. III athlete to cross the line in Saturday's Open New England Cross Country Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, claiming sixth place overall with a time of 24:55.
Faller led the Jumbos to a 19th-place team finish out of 47 New England schools. Junior co-captain Nick Welch was the second finisher for Tufts, crossing the finish of the 8,000-meter course in 25:55 for 71st place.
Tufts junior Ryan Lena finished 132nd with a time of 26:34, and sophomores Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot and Chris Brunnquell rounded off the scorers for Tufts, as they finished 147th and 172nd, respectively.
Tufts checked in fifth among the Div. III schools present and third in the NESCAC, behind only Amherst and Williams.
"[The race] gave us a lot of confidence," assistant coach Mark Carberry said. "We are in the position where we now know where a lot of other NESCAC schools line up, against us and against the other schools in the conference. We know that we are right there but that we need to work a little harder and get the guys healthy, and we should be ready to go for NESCACs."
Faller's performance earned him the NESCAC Performer of the Week for the second time this season; the first came after his winning performance in the Codfish Invitational just two weeks ago.
"It's a nice surprise, but obviously being NESCAC Athlete of the Week doesn't really matter in the middle of the season because it's the actual NESCAC Championship that matters," Faller said. "I hope that I can live up to the hype.
"It was very exciting to be the top NESCAC and Div. III runner," he continued. "Nick and I have both been training hard together, and it's been exciting to progress with him. Our second pack of runners have all been training together and really improving as a group, so I think our team is shaping up for a good postseason."
Faller finished right behind Brown sophomore Duriel Hardy in fifth and just a second behind Stonehill sophomore Kevin Gill in fourth.
"You're not supposed to see Div. III runners finish in the top 10 in a race like that, and that is what Jesse did," Carberry said. "He ran a solid PR at a course that he is familiar with. He's ready to go on to the bigger meets."
"I think [Jesse] definitely showed that he is on another level and that he is the one to beat and the one that everyone is chasing at this point for the other teams in the region," Welch said.
Freshman Connor Rose also ran a successful race as a first-year, finishing sixth for the Jumbos and 184th place overall in the varsity race.
"We were happily surprised with the performance of our freshman Connor Rose," Carberry said. "He is the kind of kid who has been developing over the whole season, and it culminated into a very good race."
"Connor ran well," Welch said. "We put him in a tough position, asking a freshman to step up to the varsity race in Open with 300 plus guys stepping up to the starting line, but he kept his head on his shoulders and ran a tough and smart race. It's good to see him stepping up when we ask him to.
Despite the success, the Jumbos are looking to further improve their performance when they compete in the NESCAC Championship in three weeks and later in Div. III New England Championships.
"We could have run better," Welch said. "I think we're still on an upward trajectory of improving week to week. We still have a lot that we are looking to build on and improve on.
"It was a good chance to see where some of our NESCAC and Div. III rivals are, like Williams and Amherst," he continued. "They're running strong, but nothing too surprising or nothing that we don't think we can be with or be ahead of in a couple of weeks time. This is where we were this time last year and this time two years ago, and we have been in the top five in the region both times."
The team moves on to the Plansky Invitational at Williams College Saturday, before taking a week off prior to NESCACs.
"As a whole, I think [the meet] was a success," Carberry said. "We are looking to be ready for our conference meet and our regional meet, but this was a good stepping stone in the right direction."
