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Teams: Men's Cross Country: Team
Overview
 As
a perennial power in the New England that continues to gain
strength, depth, and talent, the Tufts University men's cross
country program is among the best in the nation. The program
successfully entered a new era three years ago under Coach Ethan
Barron and continues to maintain its status among the nation's
elite. The Tufts men achieve great team and individual success every
year. In each of the past 14 years, Tufts men's cross country has
either competed as a team at the NCAA championship race (nine times)
or had an individual run in the race (five times). The Jumbos
recorded their best-ever finish at Nationals with a fifth place in
2005.
The 2008 cross country team will be powered by a pair of juniors
- All-American Jesse Faller and two-time All Region performer Nick
Welch. Joining them will be sophomores Greg Pallotta and Jerzy
Eisenberg-Guyot. Pallotta was a national qualifier on the Jumbos'
Distance Medley Relay team during the indoor track & field season
while Eisenberg-Guyot found his stride in the outdoor 10k. Rounding
out the front pack will be flurry of Jumbos who all posted great
winter and spring seasons.
On the coaching front, brothers Mark and Adam Carberry will all
assist Barron for cross country. Mark Carberry was an All-Conference
runner while attending Villanova University and has coached at the
high school and club levels since graduating. Adam Carberry was a
middle distance runner at Alfred University before joining the Jumbo
coaching staff five years ago. The Carberrys work alongside Barron
to give mid- and long-distance athletes the full attention they
deserve. Barron was a captain, Academic All-American, school-record
holder and All-American on the Middlebury College track team. He
came to Tufts as a graduate assistant coach in the fall of 2002 and
earned his Master's in educational studies. As an assistant, Barron
worked primarily with Jumbo sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers.
Since his promotion to head coach, Barron has worked to expand
the coaching staff by adding multiple assistants to the team. In
2005, he was elected New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)
Coach of the Year for both cross country and track & field. Last
season, Barron received similar accolades during the indoor and
outdoor track & field seasons. He earned the NESCAC Coach of the
Year for the spring, and was voted New England Coach of the Year
during the indoor season. In the past three years, the Jumbo coaches
have earned a total of seven Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
As members of the NESCAC, Tufts is part of the nation's most
competitive small college conference academically and athletically.
The NESCAC is a group of highly selective liberal arts colleges and
universities that share an academics-first philosophy for
intercollegiate athletics. The Tufts program has matched its
competitive success with academic achievement. During the 2007
indoor season, the Tufts men were named the National All-Academic
Team of the Year after compiling a 3.33 grade point average and
placing seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Additionally,
recent alumni Trevor Williams, Mickey Ferri, Fred Jones, Scott
Merrick, and Nate Scott have all received Tufts Alumni Association
awards for their outstanding academic and athletic achievements
while at Tufts. Thirty-three Jumbos were named to the Academic
All-America team during the last three years alone.
Located right outside of Boston, a world-class city renowned for
its academic institutions, Tufts offers a well-rounded collegiate
experience to student-athletes. Within its picturesque small-college
campus, Tufts is a major university with "an unprecedented diversity
of programs, exceptional faculty and staff, and bright and talented
students," according to President Lawrence S. Bacow. The Athletics
Department sponsors a varsity program of 28 sports that is among the
most competitive in the NCAA's Division III. Tufts is a permanent
fixture in the top tier of the U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup,
the award presented annually to the best overall collegiate
athletics programs in the country.
The team's cross country course in Grafton, Mass., home of the
Tufts Veterinary School, has hosted several recent regional
championship races and is the site of the annual Jumbo Invitational
in September.
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