On Saturday, the women's cross country team made its first trip to the NCAA Championships as a unit since 1999. And they ran like it. With only one experienced runner competing at the sport's highest stage, the Jumbos were plagued by inexperience and finished 22nd out of a field of 24 teams.
"We performed poorly," Coach Kristen Morwick said. "That's all I can say about it."
Senior tri-captain Becca Ades, the only Tufts runner with prior experience at Nationals, acknowledged the team's sub-par performance.
"I know we are capable of much more, but I also know that there wasn't a person out there running who didn't put their heart into this race," she said.
It was a packed, fast race with the nation's best in Div. III running the hilly course at Dornoch Golf Club in Delaware, Ohio. Sophomore Catherine Beck led the team once again, finishing the 6k race in 23:59 for 101st place. Junior Raquel Morgan wasn't far behind, taking 115th in 24:10, followed by sophomore Katy O'Brien (128th, 24:23) and Ades (151st, 24:32).
Junior Sarah Crispin and the team's two freshmen, Katie Rizzolo and Evelyn Sharkey, had a lot of trouble on Saturday, with all three finishing a lot farther back from other Tufts runners and placing among the final 15 runners in the race. Crispin (200th, 25:31) has been battling bronchitis over the last few weeks and Rizzolo (207th, 25:50) and Sharkey (212th, 27:13) had some difficulty with the course.
"It was a hard course, the hardest I've run in four years of collegiate cross country," Ades said. "It was muddy and slippery and people were falling all over the place."
Sharkey stayed right with O'Brien through 5k, but it took her seven minutes to finish the final 1,000 meters, staggering down the final stretch and eventually crawling across the finish line. Running in only her second 6k ever, the freshman blacked out and has no recollection of the final 1,000 meters of the race.
"She felt the worst of anyone," Morwick said. "She has a lot of courage. I feel awful that that was her first experience. I wish I could take that back."
The start of the race was very tight and very fast, something the Jumbos are not used to. The course started on a long, slippery downhill that caused many people to fall.
"They basically all almost fell down that first hill," Morwick said. "People behind them were pushing them and trying not to fall themselves."
As expected, the Jumbos faced tough competition from other NESCAC teams that they have seen all season long. Williams, Colby and Amherst put four runners in front of Beck, while Middlebury finished three ahead of Tufts' No. 1 runner.
"That hasn't happened all year," Morwick said. "I don't know how to explain it."
Going into the race, both Ades and Beck had legitimate shots at earning All-American. Ades, who raced in her third Nationals race of her Tufts career on Saturday, was very disappointed with the way the race ended up.
"I would have liked my last race to have been better," Ades said. "But some days it just doesn't come together the way you would like it to, and it's really disappointing, it really is."
Many factors could be blamed for the team's poor showing - the air travel to Ohio, the toughness of the course, the inexperience of the team, and the added pressure of running in such a huge race for the first time. Hordes of spectators lined the course for almost the whole race, cheering on the runners.
"I think it was probably just everything," Beck said. "It's a long season."
"It's a really different race," Sharkey said. "There are a ton of fans there and if you can't block that out, it can really get to you and can really interfere with your race."
Morwick was very upset with the performance, but preferred not to blame externalities.
"It was our first time, and the team has never been there before, and the course is tough, but the course is tough for everybody," Morwick said. "I don't want to make excuses."
Beck, always optimistic, stayed positive about the day.
"It was our first trip to Nationals," Beck said. "I guess it's good to have that under your belt. We'll just have to get tougher from the experience and learn from it and go on from here."
Trouble at Nationals is normal for such an inexperienced team. In 2001, the men's team sent a group that included three freshmen and only two runners with Nationals experience. That team placed 23rd in the 24-team field.
"We've all learned that to be successful in cross country, you need to work as a team," Sharkey said. "Definitely in the years to come we're going to use this season as a starting point just to get better."
Ades said she believes, as do most members of the team, that this performance was not indicative of their capabilities and that they will move on from here to run better and smarter in the future.
"After fours years on this team, we finally managed to get it together and go, and I'm really proud of that," Ades said. "Six of our top seven runners are returning and this race was really good experience for them, and it's something everyone can learn from. I think the worst thing anyone can do is get hung up on this race."
