Men's Cross Country Finishes Regular Season at Connecticut College

WATERFORD, CT (October 19, 2024) - In their final action before the championship season begins, Tufts University Men's Cross Country competed in two races at the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday.

Head coach Jamie Norton's Jumbos had their top eight running in the Blue race, finishing sixth out of 35 teams. The Jumbos also had a second team in action in the White race, where Tufts took 3rd out of 22 teams. The races were held on the eight-kilometer course at Harkness Memorial State Park.

Tufts had its scoring five all among the top 41 out of 269 finishers in the Blue race. The Jumbos' 171 score was ahead of NCAA East Region rival MIT (190) and fourth among NESCAC teams. NYU won the day with an 80 score.

Calvin Cummings led the Jumbos today in 25th place overall with a 24:47.2 mark that was the best 8K time of his career. Alex Friedman continued his strong season with a 24:52.4 time that placed 33rd and was his PR. Jonah Reisner also had his best 8K time of 24:52.5 right behind Friedman in 34th place.

Luke Brennan scored fourth for Tufts and was 38th overall at 24:56.7. Finishing the Jumbo scoring was Avery Smart, who ran the course in another PR of 25:01.6 for 42nd place.

Tufts also had its sixth, seventh and eighth runners finish among the top 50 today. Aidan Max (25:05.6) in 42nd, Quinn Hampson (25:07.2) in 44th and Amokrane Aouchiche (25:07.8 PR) in 48th were all part of the well-grouped Jumbo effort.

Nathan Tassey from Roger Williams University won the Blue race in a 24:05.3 time.

For the White race, the Jumbo scorers were Jacob Fippin (25:15.6 / 6th), Harris Gulbransen (25:28.2 / 8th), Gabe Grove (25:46.7 / 17th), Simon Donovan (26:02.9 / 24th) and Will Cusato (26:13.4 / 29th). Cusato had the best 8K of his career, while Fippin, Gulbransen and Grove also had top marks of their young careers.

With their score of 82 in the White race, the Tufts team was behind only first-place MIT (26) and Williams (44) in the team standings.

After an off-week next week, Tufts runs in the 2024 NESCAC Championship at Bowdoin College on November 2.