The men's cross country team showed the nation its strength at the Div. III NCAA Championships on Saturday with a ninth-place finish in the team's first appearance at the meet since 2007.
After disappointing results in the NESCAC and the NCAA Div. III New England Championships, the pieces finally fell into place for the Jumbos this weekend. Tufts' top five runners crossed the line of the 8,000-meter course at Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wis., with new personal records to accomplish their season-long goal of earning a top-ten finish at nationals.
In his debut at the race, junior Matt Rand was the first Jumbo across the line, besting his PR by 19 seconds with a final mark of 24:36, good for 19th place. With a top-35 finish, Rand earned All-American Honors,—his first for cross country and second at the collegiate level.
"I was very happy with it, both the team and my individual finish. We all performed to our potential for the first time this season, and it showed in the results," Rand said. "We've been saying all season that we could be a top ten team nationally, and we went out and proved that Saturday."
"I got out where I wanted to, in the top 30 during the first mile, and then I just tried to latch onto a pack with [Bowdoin sophomore] Coby Horowitz and Washington University's [senior] Michael Burnstein and they carried me to the top 15, where I ran for most of the race," Rand added. "I got a pretty bad cramp in the last 400 meters, which cost me a few points, but overall I was happy with the finish."
Classmate Kyle Marks was the next Jumbo to cross the line, earning 71st place with a nine-second PR of 25:06. Sophomores Brian McLaughlin, Liam Cassidy and Andrew Shapero completed the Jumbos' scoring five. McLaughlin joined Rand and Marks in the top-100 in the 279-man field with an eight-second best time of 25:15, good for 95th. Cassidy was just two seconds back in 101st, with a 23-second PR of his own. Shapero's time of 25:37 ranked 153rd and was his fastest by nine seconds as well.
"It was definitely my best race of the season," Marks said. "I tried to execute the same race plan that I did last year [at nationals], and that worked out well for me. My plan was to get out well and then settle into a pack around 70th or 80th and then just try to work my way up in the last couple miles… It was also nice to run with Brian and Liam for some of the race. We definitely helped each other out."
"[The top five] all PR'ed so everyone really stepped it up, which was really big for us," Rand added. "We all ran smart and no one seemed to be overwhelmed by the importance or the chaos of the race. Everyone ran hard and fought hard."
Senior Connor Rose and sophomore Ben Wallis rounded out the squad. In his final cross country race for Tufts, Rose crossed the line in 25:43 for 170th. Wallis's 26:00 earned his 208th.
"It was really tough for Connor and Ben to suffer injuries in the middle of the season, but both of them fought well to come back and still be our six and seven," Marks said.
No. 1 ranked North Central College of Illinois did not disappoint on Saturday, capturing the team title with 110 points, placing its five scorers in the top 50 of the field, including two All-Americans. In the runner-up spot was defending champion Haverford with 172 points and three All-Americans of its own. Washington University, SUNY Geneseo and host Wisconsin-Oshkosh rounded out the top five.
The top individual performer was St. Thomas' senior Ben Sathre, who ran much of the race out front by himself and crossed the line in 23:44.
The New England region stacked up well against the rest of the nation this weekend, with all five schools placing in the top 15 out of 32 teams. Williams was the first New England squad to finish, earning sixth with 278 points, 16 ahead of Bates in seventh. Tufts was third among New England schools, a significant improvement from fifth at the regional and NESCAC Championships.
"We were highly motivated after a bad showing at NESCACs and New England," Rand said. "We knew we had underperformed at both of those, but a bid to nationals was a new life and everyone was really excited and focused to turn the season around, and we all ran tough and smart races when it mattered."
Middlebury and Bowdoin rounded off the region, finishing in 13th and 15th, respectively. Bowdoin's Horowitz was the first New England runner across the line in 11th; Rand was the region's second. New England schools produced five combined All-Americans after being shut-out a year ago, showing the depth of the region this year.
With all five of the scorers and six of the top seven returning next fall, the young Jumbos squad holds considerable potential.
"It's a great sign for the future," Rand said. "The four sophomores in our varsity will improve a lot, and Kyle and I will look to improve and have a solid senior year, and we certainly expect to get back to nationals and go for a top-five finish next year or higher."
