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Matt Rand was the first Division III finisher
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BOSTON - The Tufts men's cross country team ran to an eighth-place finish out of 43 teams at the All-New England Championship at Franklin Park on Saturday. With teams from Divisions I, II, and III competing, the Jumbos top-eight showing is a testament to the strength of this year's squad.
Tufts finished third among Division III teams. The Jumbos' score of 274 was 52 points behind Middlebury and 30 points back of MIT. The University of Connecticut captured the team title with a score of 149, followed by Dartmouth with 192 and Boston University with 211.
Unseasonably warm weather made for less than ideal racing conditions, as the heat took its toll on many of the competitors. The sun did dry out the typically sloppy course however, allowing many racers to post some solid times.
Junior Matt Rand (Cape Elizabeth, ME) led the charge for the Jumbos, crossing the line in sixth out of 282 competitors with a time of 24:55. Rand was the first finisher from Division III, as he outkicked Michael Schmidt of Middlebury in the last 50 meters. Forty-three seconds ahead of Rand was Glarius Rop of Division II American International College, whose time of 24:12 over the 4.95-mile course was good enough to capture the individual title.
Sophomore Ben Wallis (Dover, NH) was second across the line for the Jumbos with a time of 25:34, good enough for 31st place. The third finisher for Tufts was senior Connor Rose (Irvine, CA) who clocked a time of 26:03 to take 61st overall.
Rounding out the scoring five for the Jumbos were junior Kyle Marks (Carmel, IN) and senior co-captain Scott McArthur (Denver, CO). Marks came through in 74th with a time of 26:14. McArthur, after being involved in a pile up 200 meters into the race, was able to recover and finish strong with a time of 26:39, good enough for 105th overall.
The final varsity finishers for Tufts were fifth-year senior Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot (Brookline, MA) and junior Sam Haney (Essex, CT). Both ran into trouble early in the race, as Eisenberg-Guyot went down in the pile up and Haney was forced to stop and run around the pile of fallen runners blocking the course. They were able to regroup from the early chaos, as Eisenberg-Guyot crossed the finish line in 135th place with a time of 26:59, while Haney came through in 199th with time of 27:45.
The Jumbos took a huge step forward on Saturday, improving nine places from the 17th-place finish at the 2010 All-New England Championship. Expectations will certainly be high heading into championship season.
Coach Ethan Barron's team will now look forward to competing at the Connecticut College Invitational at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, CT next Saturday.
Race results
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