Tufts outperforms expectations in New England Championships

It was Tufts' best performance at New Englands since the team finished 11th in 1995. In what Coach Kristen Morwick called, "a breakthrough performance," the women's cross country team took 12th place at the New England Championships at Franklin Park in Boston on Saturday.

Brown University earned 105 points to win the 41 team race. The meet was Tufts' first championship event of the year, and the Jumbos competed against teams from Divisions I, II, and III.

Tufts' top runner, senior tri-captain Lauren Caputo, finished 21st overall with a time of 18:27. The time was a personal best by almost 30 seconds as she finished with All-New England Honors, the first Jumbo ever to do so.

"It was so great," Caputo said. "A lot of Division I teams were there, and that makes it that much better. It's a really good feeling."

Sophomore Rebecca Ades finished second for the Jumbos and 55th overall, while senior tri-captain Lauren Dunn was Tufts' third finisher, pulling in at 72nd place. Junior Emily Pfiel took 121st out of the 287 runners, and freshman Sarah Crispin finished two seconds and four places behind her with a time of 19:36. The times were personal bests for each of the runners.

Amherst senior Aly Venti won the race with a time of 17:44.

"The race, for many athletes on the team, was the best meet to date, not only of this season, but in their Tufts cross country careers," Morwick said.

"We were gearing up for this meet," Caputo said. "We talked about the meet the day before at practice. We had more preparation for this meet than any other and it really showed."

Tufts finished sixth out of the nine NESCAC teams in the race. Trinity and Middlebury tied for second place overall with 130 points each. Fellow NESCAC rivals Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan finished fifth, sixth and eleventh overall, while Bates, Colby, and Connecticut College followed Tufts, placing 20th, 21st, and 32nd respectively.

"Women's running in New England has exploded. It's so competitive," Morwick said of the meet and the fact that New England gets more spots for National's than any other region (five team spots, nine individual spots).

Morwick also noted that Division III and the NESCAC competitors outperformed most of the Division I and II teams at the meet. Division III schools made up six of the top 12 spots at the meet.

"Division III in general dominated this meet," Morwick said. "The top teams in NESCAC are going to win nationals."

The Jumbos' performance bumped them up to sixth in the New England Division III coaches' poll and sixth in the NESCAC. This is up two spots from last week, and is the highest ranking Tufts has achieved this year in the 66 team poll.

Still, Morwick thinks that the team could move even further up in the NESCAC.

"I think Wesleyan is a beatable team," Morwick said of 5th-ranked Cardinals. "We are trying to be top 5 in New England, and this week we have been closer than we've been in the past few years. It's a realistic shot."

The team will travel north next week to compete in the Maine Invitational. The course for the meet will be the same as for the Division III Regional Championships, in which Tufts will compete in the middle of November. After that, the Jumbos won't race for the rest of the month in order to prepare for the NESCAC Championships at Middlebury on Nov. 1.