WATERFORD, CT (October 17, 2026) – The 15th-ranked Tufts University men's cross country team competed in two eight-kilometer races at the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday, placing fourth in the Blue race and fifth in the White race. Action took place at Harkness Memorial State Park.
In the Blue race, featuring Tufts' first team, the Jumbos scored 196 points to take fourth place, one point ahead of fifth-place Bates (197). Tenth-ranked MIT won with 57 points, followed by #16 Williams College (120) and #21 Wesleyan (173) in the 26-team scoring field.
A pair of outstanding freshmen led the Jumbos.
Jason Minicozzi finished 23rd overall in 24:40.8. Classmate
Taylor Combs was next in a 24:46.3 mark (32nd). Senior
Meba Henok followed closely with a 24:47.2 (34th) finish. Senior
Sam Kurian was fourth for Tufts in 24:59.1 (51st), and senior
Simon Donovan was the fifth scorer in 25:04.6 (59th). Tufts' five scorers were separated by under 24 seconds.
Junior
Gabe Grove (25:08.0), sophomore Christopher Hovet (25:08.1) and freshman
Elliott Reines (25:10.1) were the next three Jumbos across the line, finishing within about two seconds of each other.
In the White race, Tufts' second team placed fifth out of 33 teams with 138 points. MIT won with 52, ahead of Williams (78), Wesleyan (96) and Bates (117).
Sophomore Will Burch had the top performance of the day for Tufts, taking third place overall in 25:16.5 time. Freshman
Ryan Optekar was 18th (25:45.0), and freshman
Ellis Wood was 29th (25:55.2). Junior
Liam Lucas (26:08.5, 43rd) and sophomore
Joey Papanicholas (26:12.4, 47th) completed the Jumbo scoring.
Tufts is idle next weekend leading up to the start of the championship season on October 31 with the NESCAC meet.
--JUMBOS--
