On Saturday, men’s cross-country traveled to Bethlehem, Pa. to compete in the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University. The Paul Short Run is a huge cross-country meet featuring 10 different collegiate races.
Tufts placed third out of the 41 teams in the competition, an impressive showing. The Jumbos ran a competitive race that other teams in their division weren’t able to match up to.
“Everybody showed out on the Jumbos, and we came away with third place, which we were all really happy about,” sophomore Jonah Reisner said.
The Jumbos saw many impressive individual performances. Ten runners competed in the 8K White Race, and three placed in the top 20. Senior Alex Friedman led the team, crossing the finish line in 11th place, with a time of 24:56.2. After that, junior Luke Brennan came in 18th place, with a time of 25:06.0, and Reisner placed 20th with a 25:08.3 mark. Following those three, junior Calvin Cummings placed 28th with a time of 25:15.4, and sophomore Avery Smart, the final scorer for the Jumbos, came in 37th place with a time of 25:19.7.
Junior Quinn Hampson crossed at 25:20.1 in 38th place and junior Amokrane Aouchiche came in at 25:26.7, placing 47th. They were followed by sophomore Jacob Fippin (25:35.4), freshman Gabe Grove (26:09.4) and sophomore Aidan Max (26:27.9).
Multiple runners on the cross-country team ran personal bests at Lehigh on Saturday, including Friedman, Reisner and Fippin, contributing to the Tufts’ overall success.
Reisner explained that the relatively flat course helped make the race quicker, but the hot weather slowed everyone down.
“It was pretty hot, so no one really ran as fast as expected,” Reisner said. “But [the heat] was out of our control.”
With many experienced teams, Paul Short Run was quite a competitive race. It was good for the Jumbos to be in such a challenging race because it gave the runners experience for the championship meets at the end of the season. Reisner explained how a race like this can change the team’s strategy.
“I knew that the race was going to go out hard because Paul Short is a very competitive meet with a lot of nationally ranked teams, so going into it I planned on not getting sucked down into a really fast start,” Reisner said.
Pacing well at the beginning paid off for the Jumbos. As the race progressed, Tufts’ position improved as they passed runners from other teams who had gone out faster in the beginning.
“Almost all the guys moved up placements at every step of the race,” Reisner explained.
While many of the teams that they competed against were out-of-conference opponents, the Jumbos were still able to best some familiar teams. Three other NESCAC teams competed with and placed behind Tufts. Middlebury placed fifth, Amherst placed sixth and Hamilton came in at 20th place. Reisner explained that this result is promising for future conference races and for Tufts’ standing within the NESCAC.
“We always want to beat Amherst because they're in the NESCAC,” Reisner said. “Beating them is a good sign for NESCAC races.”
One of the most important parts of distance running is maintaining confidence, especially during the difficult moments of a race. Good training and a strong mindset make it easier to overcome some of the difficulties that come up in the last mile or two of an 8K race.
“You have to trust the coach, trust yourself, trust the training and know that everybody else is hurting just as much as you are,” Reisner said.
After this successful race, the cross-country team is looking forward to the rest of the season. Specifically, the Jumbos have their eyes on a NESCAC championship and a high finish at nationals.
“I know we'd love to win NESCAC,” Reisner said. “There are a lot of good teams like Amherst and Williams, [who] are always really good. Looking past that, I think we can do a top-10 finish at Nationals. That’s a big goal of the season.”
Next weekend, the Jumbos will travel to Hopkinton, N.H. to compete at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Championship race, where the cross-country team hopes to continue their impressive season.
