In most sports, the regular season is extremely important from the outset, as it determines playoff participants and seedings. But in cross country, the first two months of the year are little more than a tune-up for the final month, when championship races start to roll around.
After competing in both the NESCAC and ECAC Championships already in November, the men's cross country team is now preparing to step on the line Saturday for the most important race of the year to date: the NCAA New England Championship at the University of Southern Maine.
The team's goal for New Englands is to qualify for NCAAs, as the top two teams will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championship on Nov. 21. The NCAA then usually awards at-large bids to the next-highest placing teams, though results from conference races also come into play.
"We're looking pretty good," sophomore Jeff Ragazzini said. "We feel a lot fitter than we were last year, and we're very ready to run with the top four or five teams in the region."
Leading the Jumbos on Saturday will be senior Jesse Faller, who took second at the race last year, placing just behind Williams' then-junior Edgar Kosgey. Faller was the lone representative for Tufts at the NCAA Championship last year, as the team failed to qualify.
Saturday will also be senior captain Nick Welch's second race back from injury. Welch, who placed 45th in the race last year, is ready for a second chance to make headway up the standings in what will possibly be the final NCAA race of his collegiate career.
"[Welch has] been All-Region twice already, and he's ready to be back there again," Ragazzini said. "His biggest contribution again will be fulfilling the role of our emotional leader on the team, though."
The Jumbos posted a strong performance at the NESCAC Championships on Nov. 1, taking third in the conference, only two points behind runner-up Amherst. This weekend, Tufts will once again face off against fellow NESCAC programs, as well as other competitive Div. III New England schools. Reflecting on its performance at NESCACs, the Tufts squad emphasizes that pacing will be key to posting a strong finish.
"[Freshman Kyle Marks] and I ran very aggressively together at NESCACs and fell apart a little bit near the end of the race," Ragazzini said. "So we're planning on running not as aggressively as we did at NESCACs but being in good position with two miles to go.
"The past two years at NESCACs, we've been fifth and fourth, and each time we've gone into regionals thinking that we need to pull something out of the bag," Ragazzini continued. "But this is the first year that we've run well at NESCACs and got third, and we know that if we run the same effort, everything will take care of itself."
The Jumbos be looking to two freshmen, Marks and Matt Rand, to carry their recent success into Saturday's meet. The tandem has been a revelation for Tufts, particularly with the injury that forced No. 2 runner Welch to miss much of the season.
As always, the team is looking to improve on its performance from the previous week, particularly at this stage in the season.
"At NESCACs, while we did really well, I don't think we peaked necessarily in terms of our potential," Marks said. "I liked the fact that we ran aggressively in the beginning, because we knew that we had to get out well and put ourselves in a good position.
"I think that working together and finding people to move up with and being in that good of a position, even though some of our runners weren't where they can be, is really exciting for regionals," he continued.
Marks, Ragazzini and Rand will look to form a pack again for Tufts on Saturday. The trio finished within nine seconds of each other at NESCACs — Marks in 16th, Rand in 18th and Ragazzini in 21st.
"We [have] run well in packs all year, so that strategy will stay the same. We're always stronger in numbers," Ragazzini said.
Williams took first at the NESCAC Championships for the fourth straight year with 40 points, outpacing second-place Amherst by 48 points. It goes without saying that this weekend, the Ephs will be the favorites to defend their NCAA New England title.
"We should see ourselves as one of the teams competing for the top two [spots]," Marks said. "Obviously, Williams is a team that is really tough to beat, but after that it's pretty wide open. We think we're a team that has the ability to fill in one of the places right after Williams … The teams that are around us … like Amherst and Williams and other teams coming in like Keene and Maine, will be really tough, but I think we can compete with all of them."
Also running for the Jumbos at regionals will be sophomore Connor Rose and junior Chris Brunnquell, both of whom will be taking part in their second NCAA New England Championship.
"We have a different team this year than we've had in years past," Ragazzini said. "In the past, we've been struggling to find five guys who are fit enough to race. This year, we've been struggling to pick the top seven, because we have a lot of guys who are ready to step up and compete among the best guys in the region."
"This being a championship race, and because it feeds into nationals, all of us will be looking to leave everything on the course," Marks added. "I think we should be really confident going into Saturday, because we're all in really good shape, and we've proven that we have the ability to make it to nationals just based on our talent."
