The men's cross country team earned second at the ECAC Championships on Saturday, placing its four runners in the top 20 — even without its top seven runners on the line. The finish was the best performance by the Jumbos since they took home the championship title in 2004.
While the top seven prepared for next week's NCAA Div. III New England Championships, it was the second seven that toed the line this weekend at the championship hosted by Williams College at Mt.Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass.
Williams took the crown on Saturday with a score of 44 points, placing four runners in the top 15, including third, fourth and fifth places. Like Tufts and many of the other top schools in the conference, it was Williams' second seven runners that suited up. The Jumbos finished with 77 points, with Middlebury behind in third with 102.
The Jumbos were led by junior Sam Haney, crossing the line in seventh place among the 300−man field in a time of 26:40 on the 8,000−meter course.
Second for the Jumbos was sophomore Jake McCauley in ninth with a time of 26:43. After struggling with injuries since he arrived at Tufts, the race showed McCauley coming into true form. By finishing in the top 15, Haney and McCauley earned all−ECAC honors.
The impressive top−ten finish by the pair is even more striking when put in the perspective of last year's NCAA Div. III New England Championship run on the same course. Haney's time would have placed him 35th, the last All−Region spot, and McCauley's time would have placed him 37th. Though under different conditions, only two Jumbos ran times faster than Haney and McCauley in 2010, a promising statement about the strength of the team this year.
"Our finish basically says that we're the second−deepest team in New England and the whole ECAC, and that should build confidence for the top seven since our second seven had a bunch of guys [whose times would have finished] 35th to 70th at Regionals [in 2010], so our top seven guys should be ahead of that," grad student Jerzy Eisenberg−Guyot (LA '10) said. "All seven runners could potentially be All−Region next weekend."
Senior co−captain Scott McArthur was the next Jumbo across the line in 27:00, good for 16th place. Eisenberg−Guyot was three places back with a time of 27:07.
"Our plan was to get out near the front and pack up and run together, and we executed it perfectly," Haney said. "We got out well, and Jerzy, Scott and I ran as a pack for most of it until the last mile, and then Jake caught me right at the end and we finished together … Jake really had the stand−out performance of the day."
The race capped off McArthur and Eisenberg−Guyot's careers of suiting up for Tufts cross country.
"It's important for me to keep things in perspective. I was out all of junior year because of injury, and then last year, I was coming back pretty slow, but I made really big strides from that this year. I was faster than I ever was before," Eisenberg−Guyot said. "I think I am going to gain on that in track, because every season coming back from junior year, I've been a lot stronger."
"[Scott] toughed it out well. He's been dealing with injuries in the latter part of the season," Eisenberg−Guyot said. "He got out and ran aggressively, leading Sam [Haney] and me for a while and holding us together, which was good to see. He had a good race and he still ran faster than he ever did on that course before, even though he hasn't run much the last two weeks because of injury, which is impressive."
Rounding out the scorers for Tufts was junior Luke Maher in 26th place with a time of 27:29. Just two seconds back was sophomore Benji Hansen in 29th, and the final Jumbo was freshman Sam Garfield in 44th.
The team hopes to carry this positive energy over to next weekend, when the top seven runners will duke it out with the rest of the region for a shot at a NCAA Championship berth.
"We were hoping to get some momentum going into regionals for the top seven, and we did that really well as far as our attitude and aggression in the race," Eisenberg−Guyot said. "Having a positive attitude and momentum is really important going into regionals, especially after a pretty disappointing finish at NESCACs."
"The team has a lot of momentum right now," Haney added. "On Friday the top seven all ran a really good two−mile workout, and that pumped us up for Saturday, and I hope our performances will pump them for next Saturday and they will run really well and hopefully go to nationals."
two−mile workout, and that pumped us up for Saturday, and I hope our performances will pump them for next Saturday and they will run really well and hopefully go to nationals."
