The Tufts women's cross country team finished third at Saturday's Hayseed Classic race, only one point behind Wheaton College, but 44 points behind winner Connecticut College. The race was held at Tufts' home course in Grafton.
Members say that despite the final score, the team accomplished its goals on Saturday by sticking together and running in packs. The strategy succeeded, as its five scoring runners all placed between seventh and 18th place.
"We tried to race as a team and split into groups," said senior Lauren Caputo who placed 26th. "We didn't try to develop a front runner."
Tufts packed together commendably, but not as much as Conn. College, who not only had a frontrunner in sophomore Maura Danahy, who finished first overall, but packed its other top five runners into the first seven spots. While Conn. College and Wheaton's strong performances were representative of how seriously each school took the race, Tufts went into the Hayseed with a different mindset.
"We looked at this race as a training run," Caputo said. "Conn. College and Wheaton saw it more as a race."
In spite of this more relaxed mindset, Tufts only finished a point behind Wheaton, though that result is of little concern at this point in the season.
"We lost to Wheaton," senior co-captain Eleen Adams said. "Later on in the season, we shouldn't be losing to Wheaton."
Junior Heidi Tyson was the first Jumbo to finish, coming in ninth with a time of 21:09.2, just ahead of sophomore Katie Mason, whose finished tenth with a time of 21:16.5.
Tyson, along with senior Heather Balantyne, who placed third for Tufts and 13th overall, have impressed teammates with their work over the summer.
"Heidi Tyson and Heather Balantyne were the biggest improvements from over the summer," Caputo said.
After Tufts' top three came a freshman, sophomore, and junior in order across the finish line. Kristen Munson, Lauren Dunn, and Ashley Peterson finished 17th through 19th, and within 20 seconds of each other.
In addition to staying together, the Tufts women were focused on staying cool, as the 5,000-meter race was run in temperatures reaching up into the 90's.
"It was really hot, and I think that affected us," Adams said. "Coach told us to take it out easy and go from there."
Heat and Conn. College aside, the Jumbos can build from this race as they look ahead to next Saturday's meet at the Dartmouth Invitational. "Basically, we want to improve and make sure that everyone runs to their fullest potential," Adams said.
In the long run, the Jumbos' focus this season will be on replacing graduates Leslie Crofton and Jenn Edelmann, both of whom were regularly in the top seven last season.
"We have a lot of people that have a fair amount of potential," Adams said. "So it should be interesting. Losing Jen and losing Leslie, two of our top seven runners, that means we have some big spots to fill. But I think we are up to it."
Not only are returning runners like Tyson, Mason, Balantyne going to have to pick up the pace, but the Jumbos will rely on freshmen like Munson and Rachel Brandenberg, who placed 25th despite returning from a stress fracture.
"A lot of freshmen looked really good," Caputo said.
Strong pack running, impressive freshmen, and avoiding injuries in the heat were all good first-week signs for a team looking to improve on last year's seventh place finish at the New England Championships.
"We're all psyched to get into the season," Caputo said. "We look like a strong team that can be tops in the NESCAC."
