While the varsity squad of the men's cross country team rested for championship season, four Jumbos suited up to wrap up the regular season at the Mayor's Cup at Franklin Park on Sunday.
Three Tufts athletes, sophomores Brandon Wheeler and Peter Lewis and freshman Justin Rheingold, toed the line for the Championship 8,000?meter race, each looking for a positive season?ending contest.
Wheeler led the trio in 27:23, placing 127th among 197 competitors who were mostly elite club athletes. The race was won in an impressive time of 23:46 - 26 seconds faster than the winning time at the Open New England Championships, composed of New England's Div. I, II and III top athletes, raced on the same course two weeks earlier.
"The best performance of the day was by sophomore Brandon Wheeler, who after having a slow start to the season was able to end on a very solid fast race," senior co?captain Scott McArthur said. "He would have scored if he had run that time at Open New Englands in the sub?varsity race, which is impressive."
Lewis and Rheingold crossed the line back?to?back, clocking times of 28:30 and 28:32, respectively, good for 160th and 161st.
Senior Cliff Bargar suited up for the 5,000?meter race on Sunday, returning from injury to get one race in during the 2011 season. Bargar crossed the line in 17:27, capping off his collegiate cross country career.
Meanwhile, the top runners used this weekend to gear up for the start of championship season, opening with the NESCAC Championships next Saturday at Amherst. The conference finals pit the top 12 athletes from each of the schools against one another.
While the team's long?term goals are set for the NCAA Div. III Championships on Nov. 12, the NESCACs are an important preview, since five of the region's top six schools are part of the conference. The team's finish at NESCACs may also be taken into account if they are being considered for an at?large bid to nationals.
Middlebury enters the meet as the favorite, having placed first among Div. III schools at the Open New England Championships. Tufts and Williams will also be schools in contention, with the Jumbos having outscored the Ephs by just three points at Opens to claim second place among NESCAC schools, and third among Div. III squads, behind Middlebury and MIT.
Bates, which was absent at Opens, will be the last team to watch this Saturday. The four likely will be battling it out for the conference title, and should once again be the top competitors at the New England Regionals, with the addition of MIT to the mix.
"We're obviously going for the win and I think we can be in contention for it," sophomore Ben Wallis said. "Right now four of the top five teams in the region are in the NESCAC, and they are all fairly close in depth and talent, so it's just going to come down to who is having the best day."
Going into this weekend, the Jumbos are confident in their talent and depth.
"The team is looking really strong," Wallis said. "The workouts the past week or two have proven that everyone is in the best shape they've ever been in. The depth is really coming through, and we've finally got to piece together our top 12 and everyone is really working together."
At Open New Englands, the Jumbos' frontrunner, junior Matt Rand, went neck?and?neck with Middlebury senior Michael Schmidt for the title of top Div. III runner in the region. Rand came out on top, crossing the line just one second ahead of Schmidt. According to Wallis, this battle will likely be repeated on Saturday.
"Matt is our clear frontrunner, and he is going to be challenging for the individual title. We have a great asset in that he can score very few points for us," Wallis said. "After that, a really important part for us is to get our two through four runners closer together. They've been separated a little the past few weeks, so if we can get them in the chase pack, that would be really good for us."
"Each team is only as good as the strength of their fifth man and we have a lot of guys who could step up and score as our fifth guy, so we just need one of them to have a really good day Saturday," Wallis added.
So far this season, Wallis, senior Connor Rose and junior Kyle Marks have established themselves in the top four alongside Rand. Wallis' strategy will be to group with his teammates and keep the trio within the chase pack.
"We look great. Right now, people are just trying to maintain their fitness and sharpen up for these final meets," McArthur said. "A race like NESCACs, because we have 12 people running, plays to the advantage to a team of depth, which we no doubt have this year. We'd like to be one of the top three teams finishing, but I think we have the ability to beat any other team in the NESCAC."
Sophomore Liam Cassidy will be another Jumbo to watch, as he has made his way back from injury to join the NESCAC squad after an impressive freshman season last fall that had him as the sixth Jumbo to finish at Regionals.
The 12 athletes will toe the line at noon on Saturday, using the race to make a statement to the conference and tune up for the Regional Championships.
"We have this saying on our team: 'head, heart, team.' Run the first two miles with your head, the second two with your heart and run the last one for the team, so we'll try to follow that model as best we can," McArthur said. "NESCACs is definitely an important race and a big stepping stone, but the real effort is in three weeks for Regionals."
