Men’s cross country starts season off on the right foot

On Saturday the Jumbos completed and won an 8,000-meter race at the Pineland Super XC Shootout to launch their 2018 campaign. The Jumbos registered a score of 124, edging the host Bates Bobcats, who totaled 128 points. Southern Maine finished third.

“It was a sunny morning and … one of our teammates said [the scenery] looked like the ideal New England farm,” first-year Joseph Harmon said.

Perhaps more enticing than their points total was the sweet, sweet smell of freshly churned maple butter, which was promised as an award to the top 10 finishers.

“For the past couple years, a bunch of guys in my class have just barely missed out. [Senior co-captain] Dylan Jones, the guy who won the race, got 11th for the past two years in a row, so he really wanted that maple butter," senior Rory Buckman said.

The course was no walk in the park, though. A rolling course with no flat ground, according to Buckman, the almost five mile race posed a tough challenge for the runners.

“You basically do one flatter loop,” senior co-captain Colin Raposo said. “Then you do these two big loops where you go down a hill, into the woods and then back up, so the third and fifth miles are basically all uphill."

It was a well-deserved jar of maple butter for Jones, who finished first overall with a time of 26:23.0.Three other Jumbos — Raposo (26:51.2), Buckman (26:54.4) and senior Hiroto Watanabe (27:04.4) — finished within the top 10.

“At the start, we went out pretty well," Buckman said. "There were four of us all in a group together at the front of the race. Once we started to hit the big hills towards the end, it spread out a bit more."

Behind Tufts’ front pack were seniors Tom Doyle (27:18.5) and Andrew Doherty Munro (27:22.7), securing 12th and 13th for the team, respectively. The senior Jumbos certainly showcased their experience on Saturday.

"Knowing the course, because we've raced there every year and we had our NESCAC Championships there last year, was definitely an advantage for us upperclassmen because we knew how to race the course,” Raposo said.

As for new members of the team, it appeared as though many first-years made a seamless transition from high school to collegiate racing. First-years Philip Hempstead (27:24.8) and Joseph Harmon (27:30.1) impressed, finishing 17th and 19th, respectively. Sophomore Peter Horvath rounded out the top 20 with a time of 27:34.4.

Hempstead was pleased with his debut performance on the collegiate track.

“My time was actually what I was hoping to run by the end of the season,” Hempstead said. “When I came out of the woods and saw the clock, I was very surprised, so it's exciting for sure."

Buckman was impressed with the first-years' performance in the first meet of their college careers.

"Seeing them cross the finish line, they both looked pretty strong,” Buckman said. “It's really tough to adjust from high school running… those extra two miles are a world of difference. I'm excited to see a lot more [first-years] race this coming weekend."

Other runners demonstrated their fitness, summer training and racing ability, including sophomore Joe Berrafati (28:24.0) and first-years Neerav Gade (27:41.2), John Pappo (28:43.6) and Deven Patel (28:45.9), all of whom finished with sub-six-minute average mile splits at the meet.

Indeed, the Jumbos can be very satisfied with their first showing of the season. The team saw some strong individual performances and an impressively cohesive team performance, given the absence of some top-seven finishers who are recovering from injuries.

"I think it bodes really well the fact that we had four in the top 10 and a couple of our top returners not even racing," Raposo said.

In preparation for next weekend’s bigger meet, the Purple Valley Classic in Williamstown, Mass., Tufts hopes to continue its momentum while maintaining freshness.

“This meet, we are taking a little bit of a step back in training to make our bodies fresher and just working on a few things that will help get us into that racing shape,” Raposo said. “The past few weeks have been a really heavy training block, so we are just really looking to freshen up."

The Purple Valley Classic will also be a nice opportunity for Tufts to gauge the NESCAC competition this year and what will be in store later in the season. In last year's meet, Tufts finished 10th of 26 teams, and will have to compete again with serious powerhouses like host Williams, whose athletes locked up five of the top six positions last year.

The meet should reveal Tufts’ season trajectory and which goals are feasible for the team with respect to its fellow NESCAC competitors. The Purple Valley Classic will take place at Mount Greylock High School (Williamstown, Mass.) on Saturday at noon.