Sometimes diversifying your assets is the best route to success.
The men's cross country team did its best to divide and conquer this weekend, taking first place in the 5,000-meter race and seventh in the 8k at the Jumbo Invitational Saturday at its home course in Grafton, Mass.
Despite resting some runners in order to preserve them for later in the season, the Jumbos swept the top five spots of the 5k race, led by junior co-captain Nick Welch, who won with a time of 16:44.58. Welch received support from junior Ryan Lena, sophomores Jeff Ragazzini and Chris Brunnquell and freshman Henry Frey. The team tallied a perfect score of 15, with Bates taking second with 50 and Anna Maria College taking third with 80.
"In comparison to previous years, it was overall a good effort and it was a good meet for some of the younger guys to get some experience under their belt," Welch said.
Augsburg College junior Brent Haglund won the 8k race with a time of 26:42.76. Leading the Jumbos was senior co-captain Dave Tilton, who placed 23rd overall with a time of 28:39.83. Bowdoin won the overall team race with 38 points and Tufts took seventh with 194 points.
"I think it was pretty comparable [to last year]," assistant coach Mark Carberry said. "Our competition was a little varied from previous years. We were looking for our top guys to have more of a workout out of it, so we ended up holding out some of our varsity members."
"This year was a little bit different because we had two men's races, the 5k and the 8k," Welch said. "Overall, the competition was a little spread out over the two races. The advantage was it gave us two distances to put the guys in. Those who were better suited to run an 8k this weekend ran the 8k."
Ten Tufts runners competed in the 5k race, made up of a total of 28 runners, while six Tufts runners competed in the 8k, which featured a total field of 84.
"The decision [of who ran in which race] was really based on whose season is going to be done earlier rather than later," Carberry said. "Running an extra 3,000 meters takes a toll on your body, so we had the guys who were planning on peaking later run the 5k."
"All of our freshmen did the 5k," Welch said. "So far, they are doing really well. We have now had three races that are the 5k distance, which is what they ran in high school, but they will have a chance to run the 8k this weekend. We try to ease them into it because the transition can be tough, but so far they've been adapting really well."
"It's really tough adjusting to the terrain around here," Frey said. "I come from a flat state and our courses here are really hilly. It's not necessarily a lot of mileage but we run a lot faster ... Grafton is a tough course. The hills make you feel deceivingly tired or deceivingly not tired, depending if you're going uphill or downhill."
"It's really hilly and muddy, and the footing is terrible," said freshman Phillip Grannan, who has noticed that the training at Tufts includes more mileage compared to high school.
Both Frey and Grannan said they are adjusting well to the transition from high school to college.
"So far this experience has been better than I could have ever dreamed," Grannan said. "I really like the team. It is a group of interesting and diverse people."
"For me, I love running with people and not alone," Frey said. "I definitely run better with teammates. It's cool always having someone to run with, whether it's a long or a short run. It's great having the upperclassmen to navigate us through the runs."
Having competed in three races across two meets so far and with the UMass Dartmouth Invitational coming up Saturday, the rest of the season looks promising, Carberry said.
"In general, we are a young team," he said. "We have one senior in our top 15, so I think a lot of people look at us as having a rebuilding year; but in my opinion, I think we will surprise people. The season is slowly shaping up. Especially with young athletes, it takes a while to adjust."
"The team is looking really good," Welch said. "This year really came down to younger guys stepping up because we are a young team. It is still really early in the season, but so far the sort of progress we hoped to see from last year is coming along really well."
