Junior Becca Ades represented the women's cross country team on Saturday at the NCAA Div. III Cross Country National Championships, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Ades' 23:39 over the six kilometer course placed her 118th out of a field of 214 runners.
"It was a different race then I've ever raced before," Ades said. "It was just on a very different scale then ever before with the skill of the athletes there."
Ades earned the right to go to Eau Claire after finishing 13th last weekend at the NCAA Div. III New England Regional Championship in Maine, where she spent the whole race in the lead pack.
"I'm used to going out near the top and knowing where I'm placing," Ades said. "When people start passing you, you have no idea where you are in that race. There's a huge pack always around you. You're never by yourself like where you are in all the other races during the year."
The trip to Nationals capped off a solid season for Ades, who was the Jumbos top finisher in all but one race this season, including a sixth place finish at the Jumbo Invitational.
Last season, Ades missed an individual trip to Nationals by one place.
"I feel like I worked really hard to get there." Ades said. "It's definitely an honor to be sitting there at the (pre-race) banquet with all the people who deserved to go."
"It's been my goal for three years to be there. Coming so close last year made me want it that much more."
The rest of the Tufts team missed joining Ades by the narrowest of margins. At last weekend's New England Championships, the Jumbos finished sixth out of 41 teams with only the top five teams traveling to Nationals.
The squad fell just seven points short of the pivotal fifth place spot, which went to Wesleyan.
NESCAC schools made their presence felt on Saturday, with five of the top 10 finishers hailing from Williams, Middlebury, and Amherst. Missy Buttry of Wartburg College (Iowa) won the race, followed by Liz Woodworth of the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and Williams teammates Jen Campbell and Caroline Cretti in third and fourth place, respectively.
Three of the top five teams at Nationals were from the NESCAC, with Williams coming in first and Middlebury in second. Colby finished fifth, Amherst in 12th, and Wesleyan in 14th.
"We knew they would do that," Ades said. "When we're racing them every week, we know we are racing the best in the country."
Last season, Lauren Caputo represented the Jumbos at Nationals in Hanover, Indiana, placing 71st out of 213 runners. The last women's cross country team to travel to Nationals for was the 1999 team, which placed 11th in the 24-team field.
"We would have been at the top of the competition (as a team at Nationals)," Ades said. "It helps us to be fired up about next year. I think next year we'll be able to do it as a team."
The Jumbos will be a favorite in the New England Regional next year since they plan on returning six of their top seven runners.
