The women's cross country team performed as expected in Saturday's New England Small College Athletic College (NESCAC) championship at Amherst, placing seventh out of 11 teams. The team was led by senior co-captain Leslie Crofton, who took second place overall in the meet.
Crofton, who has been the consistent first place finisher for the team this season, crossed the line with a time of 18:46, only two seconds behind overall first place finisher Jessica Johnston of Middlebury. Johnston was the defending champion at this race as well as being one of the top distance runners in New England.
"I had a strategy before the race to stay right with the Middlebury girl," Crofton said.
"Leslie ran exactly as planned," coach Kristin Morwick said. "It was a tough course. She ran a perfect race."
Crofton's second-place run was the highest Jumbo finish in the NESCACs in recent memory. Last season, the Jumbos' top runner, '00 graduate Cindy Manning, placed eighth overall. Crofton crossed the line in 28th place a year ago.
Crofton's performance in this race shows how strong her chances of qualifying for nationals are. The top nine individuals from non-qualifying teams in the NCAA regional qualifier win a spot in nationals. The only runner to beat Crofton in this race was from Middlebury, a team that is virtually assured of a national berth.
"The focus is to try to all come together to get the team to nationals," Crofton said. "Either way I want to go, but I'd much rather go with the team like last year."
Despite Crofton's success, the team's chances for qualifying for nationals are getting smaller and smaller. Besides Middlebury and Williams, the team was beaten by Amherst, Connecticut College, and Wesleyan, all of which are teams that the Jumbos were gunning for. Only the top four teams in the New England region will clinch berths in nationals. Amherst, Conn. College, Wesleyan, and Tufts are in direct competition for those spots as well as Colby and Brandeis. Colby finished ninth in the race but was missing some of their top runners. Brandeis is not a member of the NESCAC and therefore did not race on Saturday. They will be a threat in the regional qualifier.
"We are in a tough conference with five teams ranked nationally," Morwick said. "We are a young and inexperienced team. This is a rebuilding year for us, new coach, new system, new team. I'm not sure we are ready to represent the region at nationals."
While Crofton may not have her team running with her at nationals, she may have the company of her teammate junior Heather Ballantyne. Ballantyne finished the race in 20th place, second place for the team, with a time of 19:44. Ballantyne has been consistently racing to the second best time on the team this season. Though she placed 20th in the race, most of the runners ahead of her were from Middlebury, Williams, and Hamilton. Middlebury and Williams will most likely qualify as teams for nationals and Hamilton is not in New England and therefore not a member of the region. Of the runners who are vying for spots individually, Ballantyne finished seventh. She will have to step it up at the qualifier however where there will be more women in competition for those nine spots.
"Ballantyne has a chance to qualify," Morwick said. "She is racing better every week, and she looks good in workouts. It is great for the team."
The team needs all the help it can get, especially since it is now dealing with the leg injury of sophomore Mary Nodine. Nodine has done a lot to support the team this season, typically finishing third for the team. However, this weekend still feeling the effects of the injury, she finished seventh for the team in 74th place with a time of 21 flat.
"This is a setback." Morwick said. "It forces us to rely on our freshmen. It is hard with such a young team. If one thing goes wrong, we are scraping to get it together."
The freshmen did step it up on Saturday. Freshmen Lauren Caputo (47th, 20:22), Katie Mason (62nd, 20:43), and Lauren Dunn (70th, 20:51) finished in the third fourth and sixth places for the team respectively. Senior co-captain Jennifer Edelmann took the fifth place finish for the team in 63rd with a time of 20:44.
This weekend the Brown and Blue will host the ECAC Division III championship race. The second seven runners will compete in this race, while the top seven runners will prepare for regionals the weekend after.
