MANCHESTER, CT – The Tufts University men's cross country team opened up their season on top, as they finished in first place in the Trinity College Bantam Invitational on Saturday at Wickham Park with a score of 27 points.
Tufts sophomore Walter Wagude (pictured) started off his collegiate career with a victory in the race, finishing the five kilometers with a time of 16:21.2. As a team, the Jumbos edged out Trinity College by 11 points, as the hosts were second with 38 points. Wesleyan University took third place with 69 points.
The next Jumbo runner to finish was senior tri-captain Collin O'Sullivan, who came in fifth place with a time of 16:45.5. He was the first of four straight Tufts runners who finished fifth through eighth overall. Freshman Martin Horne finished sixth with a time of 16:53.9, junior Evan Ensslin placed seventh with a time of 16:57.7, and senior Joseph Harmon finished in eighth with a time of 16:58.5. The top five Tufts runners all scored among the top eight runners overall.
Junior Sam Gatti also put up a good time for the Jumbos as he finished with 17:02.9 which was good for 11th place in the race. Placing 14th-18th were all Tufts runners as well. In 14th place was freshman Alex Friedman (17:12.4), 15th place was sophomore Adam Bernstein (17:14.1), 16th place was junior Oliver Printy (17:14.4), 17th place was senior Dalton Tanner (17:17.3), and 18th place was sophomore Ryan Proulx(17:17.7).
Brady Colford (17:27.9), Connor Giersch(17:36.5), Nate Oakes (17:41.0), Jack Taylor (18:25.6), David Manning (18:46.5), and Eli Kritzer (18:58.9) als0 competed for the Jumbos in the event as well. All were in the top 50 out of 101 runners overall.
The Jumbos will travel to the Bates Invitational next Saturday, September 18 at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Maine.
