Tufts Places Third at Keene State Invite

(10/2/2004) See more Photos     Full Results

With the chill of fall beginning to blanket New England, the Tufts Cross Country team voyaged out to Keene, New Hampshire to take part in the Keene State Invitational. Keene State was the only rival competing today with Tufts, but Dartmouth also made an appearance, bringing their second squad, while the top guns journeyed a little further into Maine for the Keating Invitational.

The overcast and seasonally cool weather conditions were nearly ideal for a fast race. However, the grassy course was damp from prior rains making it soft and rutted. Adding to this was the small pond that had formed on a part of the course, which quickly became the favorite spot of spectators.

At the gun, Dave Bridgewater of Keene jumped to the front never to be challenged throughout the 5 miles, finishing in 25:30 for his second win in a row. Showing that he was indeed back, junior Kyle Doran (6th ? 26:24) stuck to the back of the chasing Dartmouth pack, which was ticking off 5:15 minute per mile pace. Those following Kyle included junior Mike Cummings (25th ? 27:56) and sophomore Peter Orth (26th ? 27:58). Junior Neil Orfield using his patented come from behind tactic, started the race in nearly 100th and moved up each mile to his 22nd place finishing in 27:52 as Tufts? second man. Dave Bach (30th - 28:06) showed some fierce determination for a freshman when he went into a full sprint with a Dartmouth runner about 75 meters from the line. It would be impossible to mention the final kick without including Kyle?s name and today was no different. Kyle dusted a Keene and Dartmouth runner in the final 100 meters while taking out one of the course markers on the way. Rounding out the top seven for the Jumbos today included sophomore Dan Sullivan (32nd ? 28:14) and freshman Dave Sorensen (35th - 28:21).

Overall it was a good third place showing for the Jumbos who were resting their top 7 runners from last week. Tufts next meet occurs on Friday at the notoriously fast Franklin Park for the All New England Championship, in which over 40 New England colleges will be participating.



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