The No. 11 mens cross country team traveled back to the University of Southern Maine, the site of its first invitational of the season, to compete for a spot in the national championships at the NCAA Div. III New England Regional Championship.
To be eligible for an at-large bid, a team must place among the top six squads in the race, and the Jumbos did just that with their fourth-place finish, scoring a solid 142 points behind Williams (77 points), Middlebury (78 points) and MIT (113 points).
The weather conditions were great, senior Jamie Norton said. The temperatures were in the high 40s to low 50s, and it was sunny. Although the course was a bit muddy because it snowed last week, it really played a small role in the outcome.
Senior Andrew Shapero was once again the leader for the Jumbos in a race completely dominated up front by NESCAC harriers, as he posted a solid 25:00.47, 12th place finish over the eight-kilometer course (5:01 per mile pace).
Fellow senior and tri-captain Ben Wallis was only a few seconds behind as he charged to the finish in 20th place for a time of 25:16.01. Freshman Tim Nichols once again showcased his promise to the future of the squad as he ran 25:22.37 for 30th overall, just out-leaning Middleburys No. 5 runner.
Just 15 seconds later, the tight scoring pack that comprises the Jumbos fourth through seventh runners all crossed the finish line within 15 seconds of each other, as junior Liam Cassidy (39th, 25:38.64), Norton (41st, 25:43.46), sophomore Nick Guarnaccia (42nd, 25:45.61) and freshman Luke OConnor (48th, 25:53.18) all rounded out the scoring for the squad and clinched their berth to the national meet.
We definitely think we had a better performance this weekend than at the NESCAC meet, Cassidy said. Some of our guys didnt exactly have their greatest days, but the depth of our program really helped us pull through.
Norton also pointed out who he believed were the unsung heroes of the team on the day.
Liam [Cassidy] came up big on the day, he said. He was our number seven guy all season, and he finished as our fourth man. Also, Ben [Wallis] really had a strong comeback after a tough NESCAC race.
In addition, the Jumbos will have two rising stars in freshmen Nichols and OConnor at Nationals next weekend. Cassidy explained the huge benefit of having such young men on the team.
Having two freshmen in our top seven is huge, Cassidy said. It pushes the upperclassmen to work harder than they have been, because they cant just let the freshmen outwork and outperform them, and its great to have new faces in the varsity squad to motivate us.
In the entire race, seven of the top eight schools were from the NESCAC conference.
This meet just showed that the NESCAC is clearly one of the strongest conferences in the nation, Cassidy said. They consistently place high at regionals and nationals, and ... all of the teams in the conference work equally as hard to accomplish [their] goal[s].
In what could have been their final cross country race in the Jumbo brown and blue, Shapero, Wallis and Norton confirmed that they will don the colors on a cross-country course for one last time next week with their fourth place finish in Gorham.
Its definitely exciting to qualify for nationals in what could have been our final cross country meet, Norton said. It was a goal of ours all season and we feel relieved to have gotten the job done.
The Jumbos, as well as much of their loyal fan base, will travel out to Hanover College in Hanover, Ind. on Nov. 23 for the NCAA Div. III National Cross Country Championship.
Until NCAAs, we are going to be running fewer miles, getting a lot of sleep, getting our work done and out of the way, and avoiding injury, Cassidy said. We want to finish as high as possible.
We want to finish in the top 10 at Nationals, Norton added.
