Usually most teams are a bit rusty in the first meet of the season. But the Jumbos hit the Reggie Lewis Center on Saturday for the Winter Carnival in midseason shape, with many strong individual performances to open the year.
"It's good just to get a feel at this point to see what we have to work on during the winter and over early return," senior tri-captain Rachel Bloom said.
Sophomore Laura Walls won the 3,000 meter run in 10:29 in only the second 3k race of her career, running almost 30 seconds faster than her 3k time of 10:58 last season. Her initial goal was to stick to running close to 43 seconds for each lap.
"I went out in the pack and they ended up doing 42 and that felt fine," Walls said. "I just stayed with them."
Walls managed to win the race even though she mistakenly sprinted the second to last lap of the 15 lap race, not realizing she still had one lap to go. The mistake showed Walls that she's in better shape than she thought.
"That kind of showed that even though I was sprinting, I had enough left in me [for the final lap]," Walls said.
Walls and senior tri-captain Becca Ades worked together, and Ades was leading most of the race. The former All-American ended up taking third in 10:41. Junior Jenny Torpey, also in the race, took ninth in 10:59.
The freshmen came out in full force for the Jumbos. Jackie Ferry took eighth in the 500 meters, running 1:19. Halsey Stebbins' time of 27.45 seconds, while only giving her 17th in the 200 meters, was the fastest time of the day for Tufts in the 200, faster than Bloom, who took 23rd in 28.23. Additionally, Aubrey Wasser led the way in the 400 meters, taking 12th in 1:01.63. Susan Allegretti took fourth in the mile, running 5:23 in her first collegiate track race.
Ferry's 400 split in her race was 59 seconds, and Wasser noted that she didn't feel very tired after her 400. Both should be strong additions to a 4x400 team that competed for the national championship last season.
In the 1,000 meters, sophomore Anna Shih took 14th in 3:15 and senior teammate Daniela Fairchild was right behind her in 16th in 3:18. Senior Arielle Aaronson set a personal record in the 5,000 meters, running 18:42 for tenth place and dropping almost 40 seconds off her previous best.
In the field, sophomore Jenna Weir jumped 16'7 1/4" (5.07 meters) in the long jump, just three inches off her top performance from last season. Her effort was good enough for seventh place in a meet that included many Div. I athletes. Sophomore Kaleigh Fitzpatrick took tenth in the triple jump, hitting 33'8" (10.26 meters), and added an 11th place finish in the 55 meter dash, running 7.73 seconds.
Also, sophomore Joyce Uang jumped 5'1 3/4" (1.57 meters) in the high jump for ninth place, and finished the 400 in 1:03.43. Sophomore Sarah Martin threw 42' 3/4" in the weight throw to take seventh.
"I'm not surprised at all [with the performances] because all fall, the sprinters and jumpers were coming to practice just like [the cross country runners] were," Walls said. "They've been training probably since the first or second week of September."
Now the team members will spend the next few weeks training on their own over holiday break before returning for the Dartmouth Relays on Jan. 8. Often times it's tougher to get in solid training over break because of trouble finding facilities and commitments to family and friends. However, Walls and Bloom believe the break will be good for the team.
"It's going to do a lot for me just because I'm so excited that I'm in much better shape than I thought I had been," Walls said. "That's going to motivate me to do every workout that Coach assigned."
According to Walls, other runners who are out of shape will be motivated to catch up over the time off. Bloom believes that everybody will work hard over the break to keep up with other runners on the team.
"We kind of motivate each other," Bloom said. "You know that everybody out there is doing a workout and you should too."
