Women's cross-country comes last at Jumbo Invitational

With some runners injured and others absent, the women's cross country team finished last at its own meet this weekend.

Tufts placed fifth, far behind perennial cross-country powerhouses Williams College and Middlebury College, who ran away with the Jumbo Invitational at the University's Grafton course. The Purple Cows garnered the top two spots as well as fourth place, while Middlebury had a substantial pack which captured sixth through tenth places.

The meet was scored so that the top five finishers combine for a team's total points. In a competition such as this, a team that has its top five finishers within the top ten overall is almost untouchable.

Tufts' effort was hindered by minor injuries as well as the fact that some key contributors had off-days. A pack that had begun to take form over the past few weeks was disrupted slightly as a few of its members didn't have the kind of races they wanted.

"A couple of key people just didn't have their best day, but I still think the team as a whole raced well," coach Kristen Morwick said. "It was nice to get a good look at those teams and see what we can do for later on in the season."

While the overall results seem to belie a poor finish by the Jumbos, a closer look at the results shows promise for future contests with NESCAC foes. Wesleyan and Amherst were the two teams that Tufts was gunning for at that particular meet, and they only beat Tufts by six and 15 points, respectively.

In the world of cross country, 15 points can be made up by the advancement of one or two of the scoring runners. With a squad at less than full strength, the Jumbos managed to stay within striking distance of their two target teams. The team remains confident that when it is up to its full potential, it can make the necessary changes and gain the places required to beat out the teams that are within its grasp.

"Wesleyan and Amherst were only a maximum of 15 points ahead of us, and when we have a good day they're definitely within our reach," junior Lauren Caputo said. "We just need to work together these next two weeks and figure out who we need to pass in order to beat these teams."

Caputo has run well consistently each week, and remains the front runner. This week she crossed the finish line one place shy of the top 10 in a time of 23:19.50. Behind Caputo was freshman Becca Ades, who has shown improvement over the past weeks and had a breakthrough race. Her time of 23:52.32 was good for 17th place overall. Close behind was senior co-captain Mary Nodine, who also stepped up on a day when others weren't able to. Nodine has overcome injury and a two-year hiatus from the sport, making her 21st place finish (24:01.96) more impressive.

Junior Lauren Dunn was the next Jumbo to finish, taking 27th in 24:14.23, while senior co-captain Sarah Foss followed in 32nd in 24:25.23 to round out the top five scoring runners. Seniors Heidi Tyson (24:54.49) and Megan Dibiase (25:00.73) rounded out the top seven with their 32nd and 37th place finishes, both making large moves up in the pack to compensate for the absence of other teammates.

"I'm usually 13th but in the first mile I noticed a whole group of people in front of me and I thought 'I can do this and keep them in my sight,'" Dibiase said. "There was a little bigger delta than we're used to for the pack, but it's only something that will improve."

The squad has this weekend free from a formal competition, meaning that their next NESCAC meet will be at the All-New England Championships at Franklin Park. In that time the team will work on keeping people healthy and injury-free as well as working on strategy to beat the teams they know are within reach.

"People just need to race together and race better," Morwick said. "People know they need to move up in the race. We are at a point in the season where we've had four hard races in a row and we see little injuries affect people, so it's time to regroup and work on the little things.

"We're not the same team in September as we are in November and we're working towards getting stronger."