With the varsity squad saving its legs for late-season action, the freshmen of the men's cross country team stepped up to the starting line and led the team to a seventh-place finish at the UMass Dartmouth Shriners Invitational on Saturday.
The team scored 216 points in a field of 238 runners and 20 teams. MIT won the meet with 41 points, followed by Brandeis with 71 and Keene State with 86.
Freshman Connor Rose led the Jumbos, placing 36th with a time of 27:31. Freshman Matt Wittman followed closely behind, finishing 41st in 27:39. And freshmen Phillip Grannan and Henry Frey rounded out Tufts' top finishers, both finishing in 27:49, good for 48th and 49th respectively.
"This week we took as a down week," senior co-captain David Tilton said. "The varsity needed a week off after racing three weekends in a row. We're gearing up for Conn. College next week, and Conn. has a similar course to UMass Dartmouth. They're both very fast, flat courses.
"Really, we just wanted our varsity [runners] to rest a few weeks before championship season starts, and we will be running every week from now on," he continued.
The UMass Dartmouth Invitational was the first race of the season at the 8,000-meter distance, making it the first 8k for the freshmen who typically ran 5,000-meter courses in high school.
"Our freshmen did very well," Tilton said. "I think there are still several things about the 8k distance that they will be able to improve upon during the season, but as far as their first 8k race goes, I was pleased with their performance."
"We were pretty happy overall with how the freshmen did," assistant coach Mark Carberry said. "To have four freshmen that were between 27:30 and 27:50 was pretty exciting. We were really happy with Matt Wittman especially, who came through in 41st and really came out of nowhere and had a fantastic race."
This meet was a learning experience for the freshmen, who will have the opportunity to race several other 8k events later in the season.
"[The 8k distance] was definitely new, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Rose said. "I thought it would be a longer version of the 5k, but it was completely different. The whole first half of the race I was able to stay really relaxed, but you can't really do that in a 5k."
"It seemed like there was more time to really get a feel for the race before the pace started to pick up, and people started to really move," he continued. "It seemed pretty relaxed for me for the first mile-and-a-half or so, which really helped me because it was my first time, and I was able to get a feel for it."
With all but one of the remaining meets this fall measuring at 8,000 meters, the newcomers will have time to gain much more racing experience, which may, in turn, improve running strategies.
"I think I could definitely go out a little harder," Rose said. "I stayed probably too conservative because I was nervous about getting too tired too early in the race ... I also didn't have a good gauge on when it was going to end, so I had too much energy left. My finishing kick was way too hard."
"After the race I felt like in my fourth and fifth mile I could have picked it up more and still probably have had a strong finish but not have had as much energy left," he continued. "Just working on the beginning and the end will help me a lot."
In order to further help younger runners adjust to the longer courses, an increase in mileage and intensity during workouts will help the freshmen improve at this distance, Carberry said. Still, the team will look primarily to the older varsity runners in future, more important meets at the 8k distance.
"We are fortunate enough to not rely on freshmen right now to be in our top seven, which is a good thing to have," Carberry said.
Without the varsity runners available to lead the team, the freshmen also experienced the increased responsibility and pressure of contributing to the team score.
"Going into the race I knew that [the varsity runners] weren't going to be there and that I would be one of the top JV kids, so I had a little more motivation to do well because I knew that I would be up near the top for our team," Rose said. "They were there cheering us on every mile, so I got see them and that was good motivation for me."
The men's runners will next take to the course on Saturday at the Conn. College Invitational.
