The women's cross country team placed sixth on Saturday in the NESCAC Cross Country Championships held at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. The finish was a disappointment to the team, which entered the event aiming to beat Wesleyan (fifth) and Colby (fourth).
"We could have been fourth," coach Kristen Morwick said. "Wesleyan's definitely a team we could beat. Colby's a team a team we could have beat. It gives our team a little motivation."
Junior Becca Ades led the Jumbos with a 17th place finish (19:05), followed by sophomore Raquel Morgan (24th, 19:20) and freshman Katy O'Brien (30th, 19:32). Freshman Catherine Beck, senior Katie Sheedy, and freshmen Anna Shih and Laura Walls formed a close second pack finishing 35th (19:42), 37th (19:43), 41st (19:45), and 46th (19:50) respectively. Sophomore Jenny Torpey (59th, 20:10) and senior Katie Mason (64th, 20:14) were close behind for the Jumbos.
"Katie Sheedy, Jenny Torpey and Katie Mason really ran great," Morwick said. "Everyone else was pretty average. We need to do better if we're going to qualify as a team [for the National Championship meet]."
Sophomore Sarah Crispin, who has consistently been among the Jumbos top seven, dropped out of the race with a bad hamstring on the steady uphill located a half mile into the Campbell Cross Country Trails at Colby. The hamstring pain was enough to give Crispin trouble walking. Her exit helped motivate some of the team, especially Sheedy, Crispin's unofficial racing partner this season.
"It made other people step up more," Morwick said. "Sheedy ended up having a great race because she kind of knew it was on her."
NESCAC experienced a rare occurrence when Middlebury tied Williams for the team title with 59 points for each school. According to NESCAC rules, there is no tiebreaker in those cases. Most high schools would score the sixth finisher on the team to break the tie, but even the NCAA level meets do not use tiebreakers.
The two teams dominated the competition, with third place Amherst a distant 36 points behind at 95. Middlebury, which had been ranked behind both Williams and Amherst in most polls, had a strong showing.
"I was surprised a little bit. Middlebury is a team that tends to come on in the bigger meet," Morwick said. "I think they have five seniors in the top seven now. I think the experience goes to them a little a bit."
The Jumbos were disappointed with the sixth place finish because at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Meet in two weeks in Twin Brooks, Maine, only the top five teams will qualify for the National Championship meet in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
"This is an eye opener for us," senior tri-captain Emily Pfiel said. "It shakes a lot of people out of complacency. It's a good motivator."
However the team is confident that the Regional meet, with more teams and runners, will benefit them because of the number of runners that can displace team packs.
"In a smaller meet, Wesleyan's 1-2 is going to kill us more than at a regional meet. You're going to put a lot more people in between them in a bigger meet," Morwick said. "It's a different ballgame when you get to that meet. We're not talking about 11 teams. We're talking about 35 teams."
Morwick stressed the importance of the Jumbos 1-3 runners stepping up if the Jumbos want to have postseason success. Both Colby and Wesleyan put two runners across the finish line before Ades.
"We beat them in our 4-7. Our 1-3 needs to run better. None of them ran particularly well," Morwick said. "We had seven runners in before [Wesleyan] had five. They just have a very good 1-2. When they beat you 1-2 it doesn't matter what their fifth does."
"I'm not saying we were terrible, we can run better," Morwick added. "All three of them are really disappointed in their race."
Tough academic schedules this past week contributed to the Jumbos' troubles on Saturday, taking their toll particularly on Ades. Morwick did not see Ades towards the end of the week because of school work.
"Becca has had a tough week. I don't think she was expecting to do that well [because of it]," said Pfiel. "I'm not too worried about Becca when we get to the bigger meets. I think she can get [the top runners]."
The Jumbos are clearly not worried about their chances to qualify for the National meet, despite the disappointing finish. The team is confident it can beat both Wesleyan and Colby, who are currently the immediate competition for the final two spots for the National meet.
"Colby had a clear advantage because it was their home course. They knew how to race it," Morwick said. "We don't pull out all the stops for NESCACs. We'll be much more prepared for a race at Twin Brooks than at Colby."
Many members of the team ran just as fast, if not faster, at Colby's hilly, frozen course than at Franklin Park at the All New England Championships a few weeks ago.
"I think it was really good for us to run a course that was tougher," Pfiel said. "That's huge because Franklin Park is such a faster course.
The implications for success at Regionals remain the same for Morwick, as the Jumbos varsity prepares over the next two weeks for Twin Brooks.
"We're in the same boat as we always were," Morwick said. "If you're going to have a bad race, you'd rather do it at NESCACs than at Regionals. We're shooting for the top five, but we're having to do it with four freshmen in there. It's tough. They don't understand yet the importance of some of these races, but they will."
