The women's track team tried to find a balance between preparation for postseason and striving for a solid performance in the final regular season meet of the season, the Stampede Invitational, at the Gancher Center on Saturday.
Coach Kristen Morwick opted to rest her women, keeping them from over-exerting themselves by limiting them to one or two events as opposed to a more typical three or four. Instead of the quantity of events, Morwick emphasized quality and the theme was on personal bests and priming for the upcoming championship races.
"For the most part, people did what they wanted to this weekend," Morwick said.
In a meet filled with outstanding performances, senior tri-captain Leslie Crofton's record-setting run in the 1,500-meter event was undoubtedly the highlight of the meet. Crofton's unprecedented first-place 4:43.32 finish qualified her for Nationals, and she rewrote the records books, breaking former teammate Caitlin Murphy's facility record (4:47.32) from last year. Following the event, men from other teams at the tournament stood around the results table and gawked at Crofton's time.
"Tufts really represented well [in the 1,500], and Leslie kicked [butt] as usual," senior Nadia Samadani said. "The girls in the 1,500 are getting stronger and stronger."
With their strong showings in the 1,500, junior Heather Ballantyne and sophomore Kristen Munson will join their teammates next week at Brandeis for Division IIIs. Their respective sixth (5:05.33) and eighth (5:09.79) place finishes provide solid foundations for the postseason.
Senior tri-captain Sarah Deeb dominated in her only event of the day, blowing away the competition with an incredible first-place finish in the 600, breaking her stadium record in the process. Deeb shattered her own stadium record, set last February, and qualified for all New Englands with her 1:34.02 run (she only needed to run 1:46.78 to qualify), which also destroyed Murphy's team record of 1:37.44.
"She does this every weekend," freshman Emily Bersin said of Deeb's lightening-fast performance.
Senior Folake Aaron also had a memorable weekend, pushing herself to an incredible 8.44 in the 55-meter high hurdles and more importantly qualifying for NCAAs. Her second-place finish was only a split second behind Williams' Rita Forte (8.29), who broke her own Gancher Center record.
Bersin and fellow Jumbo junior Lauren Esposito had their own riveting runs in the 800. Esposito started the race an arm's length behind Stonehill College's Jen Teahan, followed closely by Bersin. Coming into the last 50 yards of the race, Esposito and Bersin sped around their competitors and the Jumbo-duo ran neck and neck and Bersin (2:23.70) crossed the finish just a fraction of a second ahead of Esposito (2:24.16), as both qualified for ECACs.
"That race was so awesome," Esposito said. "I definitely needed a race like that, just mentally. Emily and I both got out and just worked."
"For some reason, Lauren and I run together so well," Bersin said. "Probably because we train together."
In the other heat of the 800, junior Ellen Adams also used a burst of energy in the final few yards of the run to slide by the majority of her competition, finishing less than half a second behind the top runner in her heat. Adams placed ninth overall (2:33.54), followed by teammate Munson (tenth, 2:34.44).
"I ran a little slower than I had wanted to but it was good to get out then and run with the others," Adams said.
In the 1,000, Tufts women will be sending three more runners to ECACs in two weeks, thanks to good runs by junior Colleen Burns (second, 3:11.80), freshman Lauren Caputo (fourth - tied - 3:12.64), and sophomore Mary Nodine who is recovering from an injury (fifth, 3:12.81).
In the field events, senior Jess Tonn and sophomore Zerlina Maxwell led the way finishing 3rd and 4th with high jumps of 4' 9.5" that will send the duo to Division IIIs this weekend.
"She has really nice form," Ballantyne said of Maxwell. "She's really good over the bar."
Junior Sarah Leistikow took fifth in the high jump (4' 8") as she continues to prep for her first full pentathlon of the season this upcoming weekend. Leistikow leapt 16' 3.75" in the long jump for a second-place finish and hurled the shot put 30'25" for fourth place. Improving with every competition, Leistikow reached her season's best in all three events, showing she has the stamina and skills for a good show in the post-season.
Freshman newcomer Shushanna Mignott took third in the 55-meter dash (7.96) and placed fifth in the triple jump (32' 7.5"), qualifying for New England's in the latter.
"She's just started," Morwick said of Mignott. "She's going to be very good."
Mignott will join teammate Samadani at Brandeis this weekend with the hopes that she too will qualify for further post-season play. Samadani's second-place finish in the triple jump (34' .25") will take her to ECACs in two weeks, as the senior continues to improve on the field.
Sophomore Myriam Claudio took this weekend to rest up, but still managed to pull through with a school-record tying pole vault for a second-place finish at 8' 6".
Freshmen Lauren Dunn and Katie Mason both ran their season's best in the 3,000, pulling in fifth- (11:14.32) and ninth- (11:27.35) place finishes. Already qualified in the 5,000, both distance runners were using the race as practice for the upcoming post-season.
Sophomore Kathryn Hughes was the lone Jumbo to run in the women's 5,000, and to show their support, the rest of the team took to the track to cheer her on during the long, 25-lap race. Hughes finished third with a 20:12.38 time.
Twelve members of the team formed the three groups running in the 4 by 800 relay on Saturday. The "A" team of Crofton, Ballantyne, Esposito, and Caputo dominated, wiping out the rest of the competition by finishing nearly 25 seconds ahead of second place Stonehill with a time of 10:02.98. The "C" team of senior Jenn Edelmann, sophomore Sarah Foss, Dunn, and Mason teamed up to place third (10:46.83).
"I think [Morwick] is having a lot of 4 x 800 [teams] to give people a little workout, as well as just for fun," Ballantyne said.
"It really shows the depth of our team to have 12 people to run the 4 x 800," senior tri-captain Megan Thurber said.
"I was pleased with how people ran this weekend," Morwick said. "I thought we had a good meet, which helps us out for New Englands."
This upcoming weekend, 25 members of the women's team will head to Brandies for the New England Division III championship meet, a scoring meet at which runners will have their final chance to qualify for even further post-season races. Last year, the team took third at Division IIIs, and hopes to meet or exceed their previous success, this year.
