Though the men's cross country team's eighth-place finish at the NCAA New England Championship on Saturday left it just short of a spot at nationals, four members of the team were recognized for their hard work, earning All-Region status.
That contingent was led by senior Jesse Faller, who placed fourth with a time of 25:27 on the 8K course at Twin Brooks Recreation Center in southern Maine. This was Faller's third consecutive top-four finish at New Englands. His time made him an individual qualifier for the NCAA Championship in Cleveland, Ohio this Saturday, marking the third time he will be racing at nationals. In both of his previous appearances, Faller has finished in the top 35, earning the title of All-American.
"It was definitely my strongest race of the season so far," Faller said. "I got out well and stuck right with the top pack and didn't let them get too far ahead of me. I was at no point in the race not in the top ten, so it was important to me to put myself in a good position in the beginning of the race and not let them get any gaps on me."
Williams senior Edgar Kosgey won the race for the third straight year, finishing in 25:16 to lead the way for the Ephs, who won the meet with 53 points.
Three more Jumbos accompanied Faller in the top 35, capturing All-Region honors in the process. Freshman Kyle Marks was Tufts' second finisher, crossing the line in 26:06 to secure 23rd place. Just five seconds behind was junior Jeff Ragazzini, who finished in 29th in 26:11.
"Jeff and Kyle did really well working together," junior Chris Brunnquell said. "Kyle especially was really aggressive at the start. He took it out himself pretty much for the first mile … and then he relaxed, but he kept the pressure on pretty much the whole way through and pulled Jeff along."
Brunnquell also nabbed an All-Region title with his 35th place finish in 26:20, the best time of his Tufts career and just nine seconds behind Ragazinni.
"It was basically the cross country race of my life," Brunnquell said. "I have never felt so prepared for a race and so confident that I had the fitness to run well."
"My strategy was pretty much to run an even race and to push whenever I felt like I could," Brunnquell continued. "I went out conservatively, within my range of ability, and the plan was to move up if I felt like I could, and that's basically what happened. I felt really good for basically the whole race and I passed a lot of people from the first mile."
The final scorer for the Jumbos was sophomore Connor Rose who finished in 27:24, placing 103rd in the field of 323 runners.
"All around we had a great showing," Faller said. "To have four guys All-Region is outstanding. We were really happy with that. I thought Kyle Marks, Chris Brunnquell and Jeff Ragazzini ran smart, tough races and they were All-Region for the first time, so we're really proud of those guys.
"We knew that we had a really good shot at going to nationals … [but] we've had several people get sick and a few really big injuries in the last few weeks," Faller continued. "We just had a couple of setbacks that we couldn't have foreseen between Matt Rand and [senior captain] Nick Welch. Nick's been battling an injury for almost the entire season."
Welch finished sixth for the Jumbos in 28:10, claiming 147th place. This was Welch's second race back after he missed five weeks with an injury. Freshman Matt Rand was the final Tufts participant, finishing 169th. Battling sickness throughout the season, Rand has consistently placed among the teams' top five. Rand ran alongside his teammates in the top 35 range for the first four miles, but then fell back due to severe electrolyte deficiency.
"Matt ran his heart out," Brunnquell said. "He ran as hard as he could, and he ran until the point where he couldn't run anymore. You can't really ask anyone for anything else. If people get sick, they get sick; it just happens."
"All year we had 10 guys who were top-50 New England caliber guys and, through just a couple of unfortunate circumstances, we put the best seven on the line that we could for that day and four out of those seven had great races, probably races of their lives," assistant coach Mark Carberry added. "To walk away from the race feeling upset or disappointed with your season is a huge injustice to the amount of work that we did put in and the success we did see."
Despite the eighth-place finish on Saturday that cut the team's season short of nationals, the Jumbos had a successful campaign. The team placed third in the NESCAC, and many athletes earned individual honors. The breakout freshman class combined with an already determined and united group provided a team that was both stronger and more resilient than in years past.
"We had a really good team this year, definitely the best team that I've been on in my four years here at tufts," Faller said. "So this meet was definitely not an indication of our team's strength as a whole because of the unfortunate and unforeseeable events that happened on Saturday."
"The team had an excellent season, and I think we're setting ourselves up to have an even better one next year, especially with having all of our sick and injured guys back," Brunnquell added. "Kyle [Marks] and Matt [Rand] are only going to get better, as are the rest of us. Running how we did this season gives me a hope that I didn't have at the beginning of the season for my senior year."
