The men's cross country team closed out its 2013 campaign on Saturday at the NCAA Div. III Cross Country Championships in Hanover, Ind., by finishing in 17th place with 446 points. Ranked No. 16 in the country coming into the race, the Jumbos finished 10 spots lower than their seventh-place effort one year ago.
At the front of the pack, nationally-ranked No. 3 St. Olaf College (84 points) pulled off a shocking upset over previously ranked No. 1 North Central College (86 points) by a slim two-point margin to take the national title.
The Jumbos took third place among NESCAC schools, with Williams placing fifth and Middlebury finishing seventh. Senior Michael LeDuc of Conn. College ran to a national title with his 24:29.3 finish over the eight-kilometer course.
With temperatures below freezing and severe wind gusts dominating the open course, conditions were not exactly optimal for fast times, but the Jumbos were able to handle the course.
"Conditions were pretty solid," freshman Tim Nichols, who was second for the Jumbos on the day, said. "The course was a bit hilly, and it was freezing and windy, but other than that we were able to manage it."
Senior Andrew Shapero continued his domination as Tufts' top runner, finishing first for the Jumbos in 59th place with a respectable time of 25:37.8. Nichols followed, finishing in 100th place in 25:53.6, while junior Liam Cassidy was only 14 seconds behind him in 131st place, running 26:07.6.
The rest of the Tufts scoring pack followed suit, as the Jumbos' fourth and fifth runners finished within 10 seconds of Cassidy. Sophomore Nick Guarnaccia ran to a solid 26:14.8 time as the 153rd harrier to cross the line, and freshman Luke O'Connor finished right on his heels in 157th with a time of 26:17.7.
Senior tri-captain Ben Wallis closed out his impressive four-year career for the team with his 197th place, 26:33.9 time. Classmate tri-captain Jamie Norton did the same, finishing five seconds behind Wallis in 210th place in 26:38.9.
"The race went out pretty fast in the beginning, and everyone was very bunched up before the race strung out," Norton said. "As a team, we tried to each run our own races while working our way up through the packs of racers in front of us."
Although Tufts only finished one spot behind its national ranking, the runners weren't overly happy with their performance.
"As a team, this was not our best race," Norton said. "We definitely think we could have cracked the top 10."
"All of us have things we wish we could have done differently during the race," Nichols added. "We think we did okay as a team, [but] the race was not an accurate reflection of our performance all season."
Norton said that although the team did not perform as well as they should have, a few members on the squad ran impressive races.
"Both our freshmen, Tim [Nichols] and Luke [O'Connor], ran very well," he said. "Tim was even the fourth freshman to finish in the entire race. Having both of them in our top seven so early will bode well for the future."
As he was only a freshman in a national-caliber race, Nichols discussed his experience at the meet.
"It was such a neat experience since not many freshmen get to race in this meet." Nichols said. "I definitely got a feel for what competition is truly like at the national level."
Nichols has begun looking to next season, as the Jumbos will have to recover from the losses of Shapero, Wallis and Norton.
"With losing three great seniors in our top seven, we will have to adjust and work together differently, and think about what can be done differently," Nichols said.
While the Jumbos were disappointed with their performance on the day, they were pleased with the cheers from the "Tufts Crazies," other members of the track team that traveled to Indiana to support their teammates.
"The 'crazies' were awesome," Nichols said. "They drove 17 hours to Indiana to support us. They were out on the course in the cold the entire time chanting everyone's names, and that really inspired us to give it more than our all during the race."
After a grueling end to the cross country season, the Jumbos will get about 10 to 14 days off before starting to train for the indoor track season.
