WILLIAMSTOWN - The Tufts men's cross country team will have to wait until Sunday to see if they will earn a berth into the 2014 NCAA Championship Race after the Jumbos placed sixth at the NCAA Regional hosted by Williams College at Mount Greylock High School today.
The top two teams at each of eight Regionals contested across the country today earn automatic berths into the NCAA Championship, which will be held next Saturday (Nov. 22) in Mason, Ohio. Sixteen other at large berths will be awarded to Nationals regardless of regional affiliation.
The Jumbos are on the bubble after their sixth-place finish today, compiling a 165 score.
Though a team berth into the NCAA final is questionable, Jumbo sophomores Tim Nichols and Luke O'Connor both have a good shot at gaining individual invitations should the team not qualify. The top seven finishers from non-qualifying teams earn automatic qualification to Nationals. Nichols led Tufts with a ninth-place finish overall in a 25:39.4 time. O'Connor was 17th crossing the finish line in 25:51.5.
Nearly 400 runners from more than 50 teams competed in the men's eight-kilometer championship race. The course at Mount Greylock Regional High School is known to be challenging, with many hills to test the runners' strength. The competitors battled it out under sunny skies, but with temperatures reaching only 35 degrees.
With five runners in the top 21 places, Colby College won the Regional title with a score of 63 points. Amherst College finished in second with 69 points. These two teams automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship.
In third place were the Engineers of MIT, falling one point short of second place with a score of 70. Host Williams finished fourth with 85 points and Middlebury finished fifth with a score of 136. These teams will also await the announcement of at large berths due tomorrow at 3 pm Eastern Time.
Williams College's Colin Cotton won the Regional with a time of 25:10 flat.
Nichols and O'Connor both earned All-New England honors at the race, which go to the top 35 finishers. Scoring third for Tufts was senior NicK Guarnaccia with a 26:32.3 finish for 44th place. Senior Colin McCrory was fourth for Tufts and 47th overall (26:36.2). Finishing the scoring for the Jumbos was freshman Ty Enos, running 26:37.5 for 48th place.
Tufts will keep its fingers crossed in hopes of qualifying nationally for the fourth straight year and for the 13th time in program history.
Portions of this release courtesy of Williams College
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