Mixed results for Jumbos

There were no school records broken, and no improved national qualifying times. In a rather anti-climactic finish to the pre-nationals indoor season, the women's track and field team placed 15th out of 39 schools at the two-day ECAC Division III Championships at Bowdoin. Geneseo (N.Y.) claimed first with 65 points, ahead of Wheaton (60), New Jersey City (54) and Cortland (51.5).

Tufts (22 points) did not head into the meet intending to make an impact on the team standings, but did have several individual objectives in mind including a school record and an improved national qualifying mark. However, the team fell short.

"It was sort of anti-climactic," senior quad-captain Lauren Caputo said. "We had a mixed bag [of results]."

Friday night's distance medley relay proved disappointing for Tufts. Caputo, sophomores Megan Sears and Rebecca Ades, and freshman Sarah Crispin qualified provisionally for nationals last weekend at the All-New England Championships at Boston University in 12:09.75, good for ninth in the nation.

The Jumbos, who were aiming to improve that standing with a strong performance at Bowdoin, ran a 12:11.63, finishing fifth and scoring four team points. But the team dropped to at least 12th in the country, losing its opportunity for a position in next weekend's national event at the University of Wisconsin.

"It was really sad. We all ran decently, we all just didn't have our best day," Caputo said. "We were just a little behind as compared to last weekend, just a little bit slower, but it adds up with each leg."

On Saturday afternoon, the 4x800 meter relay team of senior quad-captain Katie Higley, junior Katie Sheedy, sophomore Daniela Fairchild and freshman Samantha Moland raced third behind Trinity (9:23.17) and Geneseo (9:37.64), clocking in at 9:38.33, the best time of the season for the Jumbos. However the time fell three seconds short of the school record of 9:35.05 for which the foursome was aiming. The record, held by Erin Giles, Tiffany Tobiassen, Cynthia Augat and Diane Hevehan, has stood for 12 years.

"I think we all ran competitively," Moland said. "Everyone gave their best effort, and that's all you can ask."

"Daniela and Sheedy ran out of their minds, they were awesome," Higley added. "Sam and I just had a kind of tough race."

Earlier in the meet, Sheedy shaved over two seconds off her fastest time of the season in the 1000 meters, finishing 13th in 3:07.52.

The 500 dash featured five Jumbo competitors, led by freshman Kate Makai (1:21.32), who finished fifth, just 0.18 seconds off her career best. Higley placed ninth with her best time of the season, 1:21.75, but fell short of her PR. Fellow senior Christine Hendrickson (1:23.03), sophomore Katie Gadkowski (1:23.21) and freshman Raquel Abrams (1:24.13) rounded out the Tufts field, finishing 14th, 15th and 19th respectively.

"I was in one of the slower heats. I led the whole race, so it was tough, I didn't really have anyone pushing me the whole time and I ended up three hundredths of a second from eighth place." Higley said. "Kate Makai ran really well. We were all pretty psyched for her. She goes out so conservatively, but she is steady, whereas other people go out hard and die. She ran a really smart race."

Freshmen Jillian Warner, MacKenzie Rawcliffe, Jessica Mactus and sophomore Molly Whittington teamed up to run fourth in the 4x200 relay in 1:51.38. The team notched five points in the event, placing behind New Jersey City (1:42.62), Cortland (1:46.74) and St. Lawrence (1:50.66).

"The 4x200 did really well," Higley said. "We were all pretty impressed with how they ran, both their time and their place."

Junior pentathlete Melissa Graveley recorded 2597 points between her five events to finish sixth, while senior Lauren Dunn (18:55.03) ran 13th in the 5000, finishing well off her fastest time of the season, 18:44.03. In the long jump, classmate Shushanna Mignott placed ninth with a 16-00.50 foot leap, short of her 17-02.25 foot high.

"Shushanna had one really great jump that they called a foul," Higley said. "All of the coaches who were at the line said it definitely was not a foul, so that was unfortunate because she probably would have made it to the final."

The team will now turn its attention to the outdoor season, which begins April 3. Those athletes not going to nationals this week will rest briefly before resuming their training regime, which will include a trip to compete in Tucson, Arizona over spring break.

"We'll probably take a week off and next week start cross-training or running a little bit," Caputo said. "The team's going to Arizona for spring break, so we'll start training down there."