Jumbos heat it up against defending National Champion

In an unexpected turn of events, the women's track and field team saw themselves ahead in the rankings against defending National Champions Wheaton College Lyons. With its second first place finish in many weeks, the team has begun to prove that it is ready to contend in the competitive arena of New England Div. III track.

Though the Jumbos came out on top with a score of 220.5 points to Wheaton's 197, the meet was much closer than the final scores indicate. By the time the 4x400m relay got underway, Tufts was down by 2.5 points with the fate of the meet hanging in the balance.

"We were strong where they were not, in the middle distance and distance events and in the throws," coach Kristen Morwick. "It was a close meet right up until the 4x4, and then we put them away with our relays and the shot put."

The Jumbos scored five of eight possible places in the shot for a combined 24 points, which was instrumental in executing a trouncing of the Lyons. With a toss of 41' 2.25'', sophomore Katie Antle captured first place and edging out National contender Jana Bromell by a distance of almost 3.5''. In the weight throw, junior tri-captain Jessica Gauthier garnered second place with a lob of 42' 5.5''.

Junior Jessica Trombly anchored the 4x400 squad in 56.5, helping the team achieve another season best and also reach the National qualifying mark with a time of 4:00.45. In the 600m race, Trombly's time of 1:34.29 was 0.27 off Sarah Deeb's school record and a full four seconds ahead of the second place finisher. The 55m hurdles pit Trombly against two Wheaton All-Americans, in which she emerged victorious with her fastest time ever (8.52s), qualifying for NCAA's in the process.

Also a member of the speedy 4x400 squad, freshman Rachel Bloom ran her first open 400m this past weekend. She sped to fourth place overall, finishing the race in 60.04m, which qualifies her through the Div. I Championship meet.

"I'm still trying to figure out the pacing, I'm used to running shorter sprints," Bloom said. "I'm really proud of the team though. We're hoping to get pretty far and get people qualified further, especially the 4x4 team."

Junior Lauren Caputo also qualified though the Div. I meet with her performance in the 1000m run, winning the event with a PR of 3:05.95. Fellow 1000m Jumbo competitors, senior Danielle Perrin (3:06.97) and sophomore Katie Sheedy (3:07.02), both raced to PRs and ECAC qualifiers in their third and fourth place finishes.

The 600m race provided another event in which the Jumbos dominated the standings. Like the shot put, the team earned five of the eight scoring spots, with the five people competing all achieving season bests. Trombly took top honors, while juniors Katie Higley and Emily Bersin, and sophomores Claudia Clarke and Ayako Sawanobori stockpiled in fourth through seventh.

Other PRs and postseason qualifiers were attained by three athletes within the distance crew. Freshman Becca Ades and senior Ashley Peterson both had PRs in the 3000m run, with the duo finishing one-two and Ades meeting the ECAC qualifying time. In the 5000m run, senior Kristen Munson snagged second place with a PR of 19:08.17, beating out third-place Kim Nolan of Stonehill College by 0.7 seconds.

While the Jumbos met the goal of helping more people qualify for the postseason, the defeat of perennial track powerhouse Wheaton College was all the more impressive. Though Wheaton did not put its best foot forward and didn't necessarily put the best people in each event, neither did Tufts. As the Jumbos head into the last meet of the season this weekend, they do so with a newfound spring in their step and a renewed edge as they prepare for the upcoming Div. III Championship meet.

"Our whole team contributed to the victory, every place counted and we got the job done not by strategizing or doubling up our kids, but by everyone pulling together and doing their job," Morwick said. "I'm really proud of this group, we're seeing huge improvements in all event groups and are starting to look like a championship team."