With a season's worth of tune-up races behind them, the men's cross country team enters tomorrow's NCAA New England Championship with one mission: qualify for Nationals.
The race, hosted by Williams, is one of the most important of the year for the Jumbos along with the Nov. 1 NESCAC Championship, as the results will factor into which teams receive at-large bids to the NCAA Championship in Indiana.
"This is the meet that we focus on throughout the season to some degree," junior co-captain Nick Welch said. "This, obviously, and then Nationals next week if we're able to go. In this sport it all sort of builds up until these last few weeks. NESCACs two weeks ago, being our conference championship, was very important to us, but now we are just looking to put it all together. All the work we've done this fall, and really since June, for us it all comes together now to try to get a shot to go on to Nationals."
Last year, Tufts finished a middling fifth out of 11 teams at the NESCAC Championship but still managed to earn a national berth; the Jumbos saved their best race of the season for the most important, coming in third out of 47 squads at NCAA New Englands.
"The cool thing about this sport is anything can happen," Welch said. "We went into the meet last year ranked seventh and ended up third, and we're actually ranked seventh again this year. In our minds, we have a ton of confidence right now. Workouts are going well, we're feeling good, and we're starting to round in to form -- peaking, as we say.
"We all feel like Tufts cross country has this tradition of peaking at the right time and better than a lot of other schools," he continued. "At this point all we can do, and all we aim to do, is control our race. But we have a lot of confidence that if we put together the type of race that we know we're capable of, at the end of the day a lot of people will be asking, 'Where did Tufts come from?'"
As the squad finished fourth out of 11 at NESCACs two weeks ago, it will be looking for another strong finish tomorrow to confidently lock up a spot at Nationals.
"The top two get automatic bids, and then the region gets up to three at-large bids," Welch said. "So if you're out of the top five, it's game over. Two years ago we were fifth but we just missed going because the region only got two at-large bids. The selection process is obviously something we're totally out of the loop on, but our region tends to be a strong one. Given that we've had a strong season so far and ran well at NESCACs two weeks ago, if we put ourselves in that top five, I think we'll be looking to go on to Nationals."
Welch and junior Jesse Faller will both lead the Jumbos this weekend. Last year, with Tufts in a similar position, Faller took third at NCAA New Englands to help the Jumbos earn a bid to the NCAA Championship. Then, at Nationals, Faller finished 18th out of 280 competitors to earn himself an All-American honor.
"I think last year was kind of a break out race for me, placing third," Faller said. "I would say that I'm probably one of the favorites going into the race, but there are so many guys in the top five or 10 that anything could happen. It depends on how the race plays out and who's having a great day."
This season, Faller has only improved. He took fourth at the Trinity Invitational, the team's first race of the year, and subsequently proceeded to win the Codfish Bowl, which features runners from other divisions, at Franklin Park in Boston. At the All-New England Championship on the same course, Faller finished sixth to lead all Div. III runners, and at the Plansky Invitational, which was run on the same course that the Jumbos will see tomorrow, he turned in another sixth-place result. At NESCACs two weeks ago, Faller came in third, missing out on the runner-up position by just a second.
"I think I am a gifted runner," Faller said. "I have a lot of natural talent, and I think that we've been training a lot this summer and a lot this whole year. Because of the training that my coaches have given me, I've improved a lot as a runner. I'm in really good shape right now, and over the last two years, I've learned a lot about racing, race tactics and how to run well in big championship meets. I think that the combo of my fitness and the tactical side of my running has made me a good runner in New England and the NESCAC."
While Faller consistently has been the best runner on the team for the past two years, the performances of those behind him have been less consistent. Former captains Dave Sorensen (LA '08) and Chris Kantos (LA '08) finished second and third, respectively, for Tufts at Nationals last year, but their graduations left the team with what appeared to be a void behind Faller. Fortunately for the Jumbos, Welch has picked up the slack this season, proving to be a reliable second runner.
Welch's highlights of the season include winning the 5k portion of the Tufts Invitational, finishing fourth overall at the Codfish Bowl and taking seventh at the Plansky Invitational. At the NESCAC Championships he joined Faller in the top 10 at seventh place, coming in just two seconds behind the next-highest finisher. Both he and Faller earned All-NESCAC honors for their efforts.
Behind Faller and Welch, the rest of Tufts' top seven includes junior Ryan Lena and sophomores Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot, Jeffrey Ragazzini, Christopher Brunnquell and Andrew Bellet. Lena recorded a 19th-place finish at NESCACs and, though inconsistent, has been the Jumbos' overall next-best runner. In addition to NESCACs, he finished third for the team at All-New Englands and the Codfish Bowl, as well as placing second in the 5k portion of the Tufts Invitational.
"At this point, nobody on the team has to do anything different than what we've been doing the whole year," Welch said. "We're lucky to have a strong pack in our three-four-five-six guys, really. What's worked for them all year has been sticking together, using their teammates in the race, and that becomes even more crucial in a big meet like Regionals."
That certainly was the case earlier this year at Williams, when the Jumbos finished third out of nine teams at the Plansky Invitational. Behind Faller and Welch, Brunnquell came in 15th, Lena in 16th and Eisenberg-Guyot in 18th, with Ragazzini finishing 32nd.
This group will need to finish in a similar clump-finish tomorrow if it hopes to punch its ticket to Nationals.
"Honestly, the gap between top two and the next pack has really been closing week to week," Welch said. "They're catching us. They've been able to stick together, which is what we've been practicing it all along. Hopefully that will continue [tomorrow], and if it does, I think we're going to have a good day."
