The women's cross country team finished its season on a strong note, placing seventh out of 35 teams at Saturday's NCAA Div. III New England Regional Championships. While the team did not qualify for Nationals, not surprisingly, senior co-captain Leslie Crofton did, finishing second out of 260 runners.
Crofton, who has been far and away the team's leader this season, continued to head the Tufts' pack on Saturday. She fell short of the winner, senior Barb Swallow of Springfield, by only five seconds, finishing with a time of 17:31. Swallow is the National 10K champion and will be a strong contender at Nationals.
Crofton set an individual best on this course, defeating last year's individual record by 48 seconds. She also beat '99 graduate and All-American Cindy Manning's fifth place time last season by two seconds. She accomplished this despite letting up a little in the last mile in order to save something for Nationals, since she was well on her way to qualifying.
"Crofton ran a phenomenal race," coach Kristin Morwick said. "She's made a huge jump this season with no one really to run with."
Though Crofton was the only member of the team to qualify for Nationals, junior Heather Ballantyne joined her in receiving recognition as All-New England runners by finishing in the top 35. Ballantyne, the consistent second place finisher for the team this season, crossed the line in 31st place with a time of 18:45. Ballantyne also clocked a personal best, beating her time last year by 48 seconds. She missed qualifying for Nationals by just two places and four seconds. Only the top nine individuals from non-qualifying teams earn a spot to run at Nationals.
"Ballantyne had an excellent race," Morwick said. "She really gave it her all, collapsing at the finish line. It was difficult for her to qualify when so many of the top finishers came from non-qualifying schools."
Ballantyne, however, was not the only Jumbo to push herself in this race. Senior co-captain Jenn Edelmann finished third for the team in 38th place with a time of 18:52, also setting a personal record in what Morwick called an "inspired race." She beat her time last year by ten seconds, despite the muddy and rainy conditions.
In fact, the subpar racing conditions did not thwart any of the Jumbos from setting personal records. Freshman Lauren Caputo, running in her first NCAA regional championship meet, crossed the line fourth for the Jumbos (63rd, 19:15). Like Caputo, freshmen Lauren Dunn (6th team, 92nd overall, 19:41) and Katie Mason (7th team, 103rd overall, 19:48) set personal records in their first regional championship.
"I was really happy with my performance" Caputo said. "We all came together in the last meet. It would have been nice to qualify but we placed really well considering the competition."
Saturday's competition was tough, as the Jumbos were unable to match the efforts of Middlebury, Williams, Amherst, and Colby, the four that will represent New England at Nationals on Saturday.
The competition wasn't the only thing holding the Jumbos back. Sophomore Mary Nodine, the Jumbos' fifth place finisher (82nd, 19:32), ran a personal best despite grappling with a leg injury. She has been confined to pool workouts of late, and only ran four times in the past three weeks. Typically the Jumbos' third finisher, Nodine might have provided a huge boost if she ran at full strength.
"Had Nodine been healthy," Morwick said, "she would have put us closer to the qualifying teams."
All eyes are now on Crofton as she prepares for this Saturday's NCAA National Championship meet in Spokane, Washington. This will be a week of fine-tuning for the senior, with only one workout scheduled. She will travel to Washington on Wednesday to have plenty of time to check out the course and acclimate herself to the colder weather. Her season then comes down to Saturday's date with some of the top runners in the country.
