Saturday was a disappointing finish to the women's cross country team's season, as the Jumbos finished seven points away from a trip to Nationals after the NCAA Div. III New England Championship meet in Southern Maine.
The Jumbos' 170 points put them in sixth, just behind Wesleyan (163) and Amherst (160).
The top five teams will head to Eau Claire, Wis. for the Div. III National Championship meet this weekend.
Junior Becca Ades (13th) paced the Jumbos with a blistering time of 22:35, 21 seconds faster than when the Jumbos raced at the Twin Brooks, Maine course almost a month ago.
Ades' finish qualified her for a trip to Eau Claire next weekend as an individual. She will be the lone female Jumbo, joining the Tufts men's cross country team, which qualified as a team with its first-place finish.
Ades' 13th-place finish vastly improved from her 17th-place finish at the NESCAC Championships, a race with significantly fewer participants.
"She ran a really smart race because she sat back a little bit and then picked people off," sophomore Raquel Morgan said. "She maintained steady and she had a really strong finish. I think that she did what she needed to do and now she's going to go to Nationals."
Morgan (19th, 22:47) beat her time from last month at Twin Brooks by almost a full minute and ran a strong race.
"I was really pleased because I really wanted to break 23 [minutes] this season," Morgan said. "This is probably the first race that I've been really really happy with what I did. It was a great way to go out this season."
Freshman Catherine Beck (35th, 23:14) was third on the team for the Jumbos. Sophomore Sarah Crispin (51st, 23:38) and freshman Katy O'Brien (52nd, 23:38) rounded out the Jumbos top five, who accounted for the team score.
Crispin started out the race in the back, running with Sheedy, but moved up considerably over the last mile and a half to finish fourth for the Jumbos on the six kilometer course.
O'Brien, who has been fatigued as of late because of school work and the demands of a long season, had a frustrating day and finished fifth for the Jumbos.
Senior Katie Sheedy (65th, 23:58) and freshman Laura Walls (66th, 23:59) did their part, displacing Wesleyan's fifth runner, who finished 72nd. But the one-two punch of Wesleyan's top-two runners, who finished seventh and 10th, was enough to put away the Jumbos.
"Even though we didn't make it, more than half the team [set new personal records]," Morgan said. "[Crispin set a personal record] by 30 seconds and she was in the same place as last season. I think the competition was too hard. Everyone ran really well and gave it their all. I think it was a great end of the season."
"It's hard to say anything negative about yesterday," Crispin said. "Almost everyone on the team had not only a good race but a phenomenal race. We got beaten barely by a lot of teams who are graduating seniors. We have almost everyone returning next year."
Surprisingly, Amherst had a terrible day, with their fourth and fifth runners placing 55th and 61st. The Lord Jeffs unexpectedly finished in fourth place, behind Middlebury (58), Williams (64), and Colby (131).
Colby, a team that throughout the season had been running not far in front of the Jumbos, surprised many people by beating Amherst convincingly. While Colby is improving as the season progresses, the Lord Jeffs appear to be self destructing, as evidenced by the scowl and surly demeanor of lead runner Carter Hamill during Saturday's awards ceremony.
In contrast, Tufts remained positive after the race. The Jumbos will be returning all but one of the seven runners who ran yesterday and feel they will be a force next season in the New England region.
"We have one of the deepest teams," Crispin said. "If you scored the top seven, we would have been fourth. We have so much talent and we were so close. Almost everyone except [Sheedy] will be returning. Everyone's going to miss [Sheedy]. She's a huge part of the team. But we have a lot of talent that's going to be returning. We got beat by seven points. We know how close we are even as a young team to being one of the best teams in New England.
"We already are one of the best teams in New England."
