Second at the NESCAC Championship; second at the New England Div. III Championships; the ninth best program across all divisions in the region.
Achievements like these are hard to come by, and have not been matched by many other Jumbo teams this year. But in her fourth year of coaching at Tufts, women's track coach Kristen Morwick has built a program of excellence, in which results such as these are beginning to be the norm rather than the exception.
"It is my fourth year and I'm starting to see things turn around," Morwick said. "You start to see the results of what you have implemented and everyone is really invested in the program. A good atmosphere is created because everyone has the same goals and philosophy."
All year long, the major goal for the team was to qualify and send as many competitors to Nationals as possible. That goal has been realized, as currently the team is preparing to send competitors to the national championships May 27 to May 29 in Millikin, Ill. And with 11 members of the team earning All-New England honors, as well as both the 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter relay teams, this looks to be one of the largest groups to make the trip in quite some time.
Senior quad-captain Jess Trombly is qualified in the heptathlon (ranked 3rd), 400-meter hurdles (ranked 1st), 100 hurdles (ranked 26th) and is part of the 4x400 relay team that is ranked 8th. Sophomore Becca Ades is eighth and senior quad-captain Lauren Caputo is 14th for provisional marks in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, while junior Melissa Graveley and Sears have outside chances in the high jump and heptathlon
"The fact that this will be the biggest group ever going to Nationals is pretty nice," Morwick said. "Just making it is a huge accomplishment."
One group that has all-American potential is the 4x400 relay team of Trombly, fellow senior quad-captain Emily Bersin, junior Sika Henry, and sophomore Rachel Bloom.
An experienced team at meets of this caliber - the team took second in the indoor national championships this past March - this group recorded the fifth fastest time in the nation for this season (3 minutes, 52.17 seconds) at New England's and broke a school record that had been standing since 1986.
Morwick expects this group to place in the top five at the championship.
Trombly, also a nationals veteran individually, has made her presence felt across the country at the meet as she recorded the then fastest time in the nation in the 400 hurdles.
"Jess has a good chance to win whatever event we enter her in," Morwick said.
Whatever happens in the future, this team as a whole has a lot to be proud of based on its strength and consistency of performance throughout the season. While the elusive NESCAC Championship was once again just out of reach (thanks to Williams College), through and through this is one of the best track and field teams Tufts has seen in years.
Today, this team is graduating 12 of the reasons that it was so successful.
"This is a great group of seniors," Morwick said. "They have great attitudes and they make huge contributions on the field. They will be dearly missed."
With graduation, there will be holes to fill across the range of events. Though a multi-event athlete, Trombly's absence will be felt most in the hurdles.
"Jess does everything for us," Morwick said. "She has incredible range and there won't be anyone coming through able to top her in the hurdles for quite some time."
Caputo made her mark in the distance runs and has a shot to culminate her career at nationals in the steeplechase.
"It is going to be tough to replace Caputo as she is one of our best distance runners," Morwick said. "She has shown such steady improvement and has such a great attitude."
As for the fourth quad-captain, senior Katie Higley, Morwick characterized her as the "spirit of the team," pointing to her hard work and enthusiasm that will be greatly missed, as well as her contributions in the long sprints.
The field unit also will be taking a hit in the loss of seniors Kate Gluckman, Jessica Gauthier and Gwen Campbell. Campbell currently holds the school record in the hammer throw, and all three athletes showed marked improvement this season, particularly Gauthier who recorded personal bests in almost every event she competed in.
Though the Jumbos will take a hit from these losses, Morwick is confident that this team will continue to be successful.
"Even though we are graduating significant seniors," Morwick said, "the younger group has already been stepping up and doing well. Ours is not a case of all-stars, but a well-rounded team."
