MIDDLETOWN, CT (September 21, 2024) - The Tufts University men's cross country team was narrowly edged by Amherst College and finished as the runner-up at the eight-team Cardinal Invitational hosted by Wesleyan University on Saturday.
With scoring finishes of fifth, sixth, 10th, 11th and 14th out of 114 total entries, Tufts compiled a 46 team score. Amherst (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 12th, 16th) won with a 37 score. Host Wesleyan was well back in third place with a 68 team score.Â
Senior
Alex Friedman led Tufts and was fifth overall in the race with his career-best time for eight kilometers at 25:03.36. Right behind him in sixth overall and second for the Jumbos was sophomore
Jonah Reisner, whose 25:10.0 was his best in two seasons.
Junior standout
Calvin Cummings crossed the finish line in 25:15.18 today for 10th place overall and third for the Jumbos. Sophomore
Avery Smart showed his promise at 25:22.32 for 11th place as the fourth scoring Jumbo. Rounding out the Jumbo scorers and the fifth Tufts runner among the top 15 individuals today was junior
Amokrane Aouchiche in 14th place (25:25.37).
The Jumbos actually had a better first-seven score than Amherst today. Juniors
Quinn Hampson (25:29.19) and
Luke Brennan (25:33.52) were 17th and 19th, respectively. Amherst's sixth and seventh were 22nd and 24th.
Tufts had eight in the top 20 overall as freshman
Aidan Max ran 25:36.96 for 20th place. Other youngsters performing well were sophomore
Jacob Fippin in 23rd at 25:39.43 (PR), and freshman Gave Grove in 44th at 26:25.43.
Others finishing in Tufts' second seven today were junior Will Cusato (27:06.41), freshman
Lucas Chang (27:14.43), freshman
Lucas Klein (27:36.68) and sophomore
Ben Stratton (28:34.04).
Union College's Ryan Russell won today's race with a 24:45.2 time that was first by 13 seconds.
Tufts will be idle next week before returning to action on October 5 with at both the Paul Short Run in Pennsylvania and the Keene State Invitational -in New Hampshire.
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