MIDDLEBURY, VT (September 12, 2026) – Senior
Harris Gulbransen finished as the individual runner-up as the Tufts University men's cross-country team placed second out of nine teams at the season-opening Aldrich Invitational at Middlebury College on Saturday.
A returning All-American, Gulbransen covered the eight-kilometer course in a 25:56.42 time for second place. He was behind only Williams College's Eli Welch, who won with a 25:40.26 mark. Gulbransen and Welch were neck-and-neck for most of the race until Welch pulled away at the end.
The Jumbos had a good showing by their freshmen making collegiate debuts today.
Elliott Reines was second for the team and fifth overall with a time of 25:59.41, making him the top finisher out of 35 freshmen in the race. Teammate and classmate
Jason Minicozzi was third for Tufts and 10th overall in a 26:15.15 time.
Junior
Gabe Grove (26:23.26) in 11th place and sophomore
Chris Hovet (26:25.64) in 12th place rounded out the top five scoring for the Jumbos, who finished with 40 team points.
Williams College won the team competition with a 21 score. Tufts was well ahead of third-place and host Middlebury, who accumulated a team score of 81. Nine teams total competed.
Senior
Meba Henok was in the top 20 individually for the Jumbos at 26:41.58, while
Taylor Combs had another strong freshman performance for Tufts at 26:47.10 for 19th place.
Liam Lucas and
Lucas Klein opened their junior seasons with good races, coming in 22nd place (26:52.46) and 24th (26:57.09), respectively.
Also crossing the finish line in the top 40 for Tufts out of 115 total finishers were senior
Simon Donovan in 32nd place (27:25.55), sophomore
Joey Papanicholas in 33rd (27:25.62), freshman
Ryan Optekar in 36th (27:33.35) and sophomore
Chris Barbato 39th (27:34.47).
The Jumbos will be at Williams College's Purple Valley Classic next Saturday.
--JUMBOS--
