The women's cross-country team ran to a seventh place finish on Saturday, competing with 18 other teams at the 34th annual Codfish Bowl Cross Country Meet. The race, held at Franklin Park in Boston, marked the end of a two-week layoff for the Jumbos following the Sept. 11 tragedy. The team had cancelled its plans to run at the Dartmouth Invitational on the weekend following the attacks.
In light of the extended rest period, coach Kristen Morwick is calling the Codfish Bowl the squad's first meet of the season, even though it officially opened at the Hayseed Classic two weeks ago.
"It was okay, really our first race in a couple of weeks," Morwick said of Saturday's competition. The team's top finisher was senior co-captain Heather Ballantyne who placed 31st (20:01.50).
As Morwick's top returner, the team will count on Ballantyne to fill the shoes left by All-American Leslie Crofton, the Jumbos' top runner last year.
"It was not ideal running conditions," Morwick said of the meet's 70-degree temperatures. Coupled with the layoff, the humid conditions seemed to take a toll on her top runner. Last season Ballantyne finished the same race seventh with a time of 19:23.
While Ballantyne did not perform at her best, Morwick was pleased with the Jumbos performance as a team.
"Our one through fives ran about 15 seconds apart and our one through sevens ran about 40 seconds apart," Morwick said. On the other hand, she feels that her team could run at a faster pace without changing the spacing between runners, making the team more effective as a unit.
"I like them being in a pack, but I want it to be a faster pack," Morwick said.
Behind Ballantyne, the next two Jumbo finishers were sophomores Lauren Dunn (20:12.50) and Lauren Caputo (20:14.20). They finished 41st and 42nd respectively, followed by junior Heidi Tyson who placed 45th with a time of 20:15.90. Rounding out the top five was sophomore Katherine Mason (20:17.60) who ended up in 47th place.
In a cross county meet, the top five runners score points for the team and the object for a team is to have the fewest amount of points as possible.
The Jumbos finished with a total of 198 points, 66 behind 6th place Stonehill College. "Amherst (76) and Brandeis (81) dominated," Morwick said. "We were shooting for Trinity (109) and Wesleyan (115) and were about 70 points behind them."
"We are a young team and also inexperienced," Morwick said. "We are about a month away from being where the team needs to be."
Morwick considers every meet a warm-up until the Nov. 10 NCAA Regional Championships at Westfield State.
"Finishing place does not affect the season, Nov. 10 is... the national qualifier," she said."
In order to prepare her team for next month's key races, Morwick has developed a multifaceted training regiment which is designed to ensure that the women peak at the right time.
"Cross-country conditioning is a combination of running, weight training, speed, and strength; there are few strategies except knowing the course and being familiar with the race," Morwick said. "The key to cross-country is peaking athletes at the right time and staying injury-free."
The team has been relatively free from injuries so far, though one specific injury has greatly impacted the team. In Morwick's eyes, junior Mary Nodine would be her top or second best runner but currently she is out with a stress fracture and will not be racing for a couple of weeks.
Also on the injury front, freshman Rachael Brandenburg, who placed tenth on Saturday with a time of 21:11.20 is coming off of a stress fracture that she sustained this Summer. Once she returns to full strength Morwick expects her to be among the top five runners on the team.
The road does not get any easier for the team as they host the Jumbo Invitational at the Veterinary School in Grafton at 1 p.m. on Saturday. They will face top Division III competition as well as one Division I school, UMASS-Amherst.
"Williams, Middlebury, and Amherst are the top three teams in New England," Morwick said. "I have no idea where we will finish. Our league is very competitive, but we could be top five."
