The men's cross country team suited up and headed to Hamilton for the NESCAC Championships on Saturday, walking away with a third−place finish in a conference that proved that it is more competitive than ever.
Running his way to All−NESCAC honors and leading the pack for the Jumbos was sophomore Matt Rand. Rand crossed the line in a time of 26:39 on the 8,000−meter course.
Leading the race to win his fourth−straight NESCAC title was Hamilton senior Peter Kosgei, finishing in 26:06 amid difficult conditions. In the 28−year history of the event, Kosgei is the first individual to win the title four times.
Middlebury also made history, winning its first−ever team title, finishing with 78 points and defeating four−time defending champion Williams. Behind the Ephs' 94 points was Tufts with 103, matching the Jumbos' third−place finish of 2009.
Senior co−captain Jeff Ragazzini made a triumphant return to top form on Saturday, in time to lead the next pack of Jumbos behind Rand.
"I was really excited with how I performed. It was the first time this season that I've fully risen to the challenge and run a strong full 8k," Ragazzini said. "I knew I had the base fitness to run a good last two miles, but I couldn't run a blazing first mile without paying for it later, so I was conservative and waited through the first three miles and then moved up as much as I could during the last 10 minutes."
Ragazzini finished in 26:53 to claim 19th, with freshman Liam Cassidy just two seconds behind in 22nd.
Sophomores Kyle Marks and Tyler Andrews and junior Scott McArthur were just behind in 25th, 26th and 27th, respectively, finishing in times of 27:01, 27:03 and 27:04. Freshman Ben Wallis was close behind in 32nd with a time of 27:10.
"The course was very muddy, and anytime the conditions are kind of sloppy, it tends to limit how much the guys can move in the second half of the race, so we wanted to get out and put ourselves in the position early on that we wanted to finish in and then kind of just sink our teeth in and hold on," assistant coach Nick Welch (LA '10) said.
The race demonstrated just how tight the pack of Tufts runners is this year. The squad had an impressive spread of just 17 seconds between its second and seventh finishers.
"I was never more than 10 meters from another teammate, which helped all of us," Ragazzini said. "I was constantly chasing after my teammates, and my teammates were chasing after me."
"Our pack is definitely one of our strengths, and anytime you can link up with a teammate or two and work together, it is a huge advantage," Welch said. "On Saturday we saw the benefit of packing up as many as six guys, and each one of those guys from two to seven at some point in the race went to the front of the group and did some work. ... A pack like that is really built to succeed at regionals and nationals."
The team's depth could play a big role in its success at the NCAA New England Regional meet on Nov. 13.
"Regionals is a meet where one member of your team having an off−day could cause big problems with your score, but luckily this year, we have more than enough guys to fill any gaps that happen to open," Ragazzini said.
Though most of the strength in New England comes from the NESCAC conference, other strong teams that will be added to the mix include Brandeis, MIT and Keene State, each competing for the chance to race at the NCAAs.
"The top probably six teams [at NESCACs] are all teams that have a legitimate shot to go to the nationals, and that's pretty incredible coming from one conference," Welch said. "The conference is strong, and the region is even stronger."
A third−place finish at NESCACs bodes well for the Jumbos at regionals and gives them a chance to later earn an at−large bid to NCAAs.
The team is confident in its strength but knows that it has to put in the work for even more success than it found on Saturday.
"I thought the team ran great; they fought very hard," Welch said. "The conference is unbelievably tough. There's a lot of parity among the top teams, and for us to come in third when we know pretty much everybody [on Tufts] could have a better race is definitely an encouraging result."
With its top seven runners resting their legs this weekend, the squad's second seven will suit up for the ECAC Championship on Saturday in Bristol, R.I.
"We have an unbelievably deep team, and we're excited to really put that to good use on Saturday," Welch said. "I think we could really vie for the top spot at ECACs, and what I love is that the guys that we have racing are hungry to do just that."
