O'Connor, Nichols Shine for Men's Cross Country at New England Championship

Luke O'Connor's 6th at the NEICAAA race was Tufts' best finish since 2011

BOSTON - Juniors Luke O'Connor and Tim Nichols posted the best two-man performance by the Tufts Men's Cross Country team at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Championship in 10 years on Saturday with their sixth and 15th place finishes, respectively.

The top two finishes by Jumbo runners at the meet featuring New England's best Division I, II and III talent were the highest at Tufts since Matt Lacey was fifth and Josh Kennedy was 15th at the 2005 NEICAAA race.

O'Connor was sixth overall on the eight-kilometer course Saturday with a 24:45.95 time. He was second among Division III competitors. His sixth-place finish is matched by Matt Rand in 2011 and Jesse Faller in 2008 as the best by a Tufts runner since Lacey.

Nichols came in 15th place today with a 25:11.67 time. Together, he and O'Connor helped Tufts place 11th out of 38 teams at the meet. The Jumbos were third among New England Division III schools.
A total of 252 runners participated. UMass Lowell's Robert Allen won the individual title with a 24:23.62 race.

Scoring third for the Jumbos was senior co-captain James Traester with a 25:52.63 time that was 82nd overall. Fellow senior co-captain Michael Curley was next for Tufts in 106th with a 26:05.73 finish. The fifth and final Jumbo scorer was freshman Christian Swenson with a 26:08.56 time (113th).

Interim head coach Mike Schmidt's Jumbos run at Connecticut College next Saturday before taking a week off leading up to the NESCAC Championship Race on October 31.