The men's and women's cross country teams will get their first and only chance at home-court advantage tomorrow as the Jumbo Invitational brings some of New England's toughest teams to Grafton.
Fueled by ECAC Player of the Week junior Catherine Beck, along with top runners junior Katy O'Brien and sophomore Katie Rizzolo, all of whom were rested at last week's UMass Dartmouth Invitational, the women's team should be in strong shape this Saturday.
The Jumbo Invitational is the closest the team gets to home-field advantage during the season, and also gives the team a chance to run a 6K course, the length of a championship race. But the often-poor conditions of the field leave something to be desired.
"We don't love it," Coach Kristen Morwick said. "But it's our opportunity to run a competitive 6K."
It will be a small field in Saturday's competition, with the Jumbos facing off against rival Amherst, Bates and Fitchburg. Scheduling conflicts during the preseason made it difficult to schedule more teams to compete, but Morwick promises that it will be a competitive meet.
"This is our chance to see what Amherst looks like, and to see how we run a championship distance," Morwick said.
- by Andrew Bauld
