The women's cross country team placed second out of three teams at Friday's Wellesley Invitational, led by a second place finish from junior Heather Ballantyne.
Ballantyne, the first Jumbo to cross the line, finished with a time of 19:34. She was only twelve seconds behind Wellesley's Elisabeth Sigman. Wellesley dominated the meet scoring only 23 points. While unable to match Wellesley in the tri-meet, Tufts' score of 40 points easily defeated MIT's score of 68 points.
"The course was slow, narrow, and mushy from the rain," coach Kristin Morwick said. "We can beat Wellesley on a fresher, faster, flatter course."
The Jumbos were also hindered by the absence of their lead runner, senior co-captain Leslie Crofton. She rested this race to stay fresh and healthy for the more important races towards the end of the season, such as the NESCAC and ECAC championships.
Finishing second for the team was sophomore Mary Nodine in sixth place with a time of 20:08. She was followed by freshman Lauren Caputo (20:08) in ninth place, and senior co-captain Jennifer Edelmann (20:44) in eleventh place. Finishing off the top five was freshman Lauren Dunn (20:46) in twelfth place.
"Jen ran a great race as well as pulled along the whole middle group," Morwick said. "The upperclassmen have sacrificed a lot to bring along a younger team. I backed off on Jen this time so she ran a better race."
Morwick, since taking over this season, has changed the racing strategy. Instead of starting off the race at a fast pace, the women start off slower and build throughout the race. She has the upperclassmen run slower to bring the pack with them. Towards the end of the season, the upperclassmen will be allowed to run more of their own race and the results, she believes, will show.
"How people have been at the beginning of the season isn't indicative of how they will be at the end of the season," Morwick said.
Other major changes to the team are taking their toll on its performance. The squad is covering more mileage than it ever has before. Also, this is the first year it has begun a serious weight-training program, as well as various indoor pool workouts. The team trains through the week of a less important meet, such as Friday's, in order to gear up for the important meets at the end of the season.
The Jumbos will need to step it up at these important meets because the competition is tough. Four NESCAC teams will be allowed to go to nationals this year. Middlebury and Williams, teams with long histories of cross country excellence, are almost guaranteed the first and second spot. Brandeis looks like a strong contender for the third spot. For the fourth spot, Tufts is competing with the likes of Connecticut College, Amherst, and Colby.
Morwick is confident that once the team starts cutting back on mileage at practice, the Jumbos should beat teams such as Wesleyan, Wellesley, and even Conneticut College. All three of these teams have defeated Tufts in meets earlier in the season, though. The Jumbos will have more trouble overtaking Amherst, a team that has beaten them twice thus far, despite strong performances from runners such as Crofton, Ballantyne, and Nodine.
"Nationals is a long shot because we are such a young team," Morwick said. "We would have to perform well and be healthy and probably something would have to go wrong for the competition."
Staying healthy is difficult for the Jumbos at this time in the season since running on pavement in Boston does not provide ideal training conditions. The Jumbos are plagued with nagging injuries such as ankle pains and knee problems. Also, many junior runners who would normally be a force on the team are abroad for the season. The obstacles for the team are mounting as the season has reached the halfway mark.
Next week, the team will compete at the All-New England Championships at Franklin Park, a course the Jumbos are familiar with. Morwick plans on using this race as a good indication of where they stand compared to the competition.
Heather Ballantyne finished second overall at the Wellesley Invitational, helping to lead the women's cross country team to a second place finish.
