Coming off of last week's first-place high, the Tufts women turned out another strong finish at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational. Despite the absence of its two frontrunners, junior tri-captain Catherine Beck and classmate Katy O'Brien, the Jumbos pushed for a sturdy third place finish out of 33 teams, attributed mainly to their close times and pre-race planning.
"We basically wanted to continue the same strategy from last week, holding back a little in the beginning and moving up throughout, though we did go out faster initially in this race," coach Kristin Morwick said.
Senior Raquel Morgan (11th, 19:02) had a tenuous hold on the team's top spot, barely finishing ahead of sophomore Evelyn Sharkey (14th, 19:04). The tight twosome, shredding 17 and 21 seconds respectively from their times last week, stepped up in the absence of Beck and O'Brien.
Another near side-by-side finish followed in senior tri-captain Sarah Crispin (22th, 19:22), down 19 seconds from last week, and classmate Samantha Moland (28th, 19:28). Senior tri-captain Jenny Torpey (48th, 19:55) rounded off the top five with sophomore Susan Allegretti (49th, 19:58) right on her heels. All of the Tufts top six crossed the line within a minute of each other.
"Due to the flat, narrow course, our strategy was to go out hard and race together as a pack," Moland said in an email to the Daily. "There is honestly nothing better than racing alongside a teammate knowing that you are both depending on one another to achieve the same goal."
In addition to recording better times at the varsity level, the sub-varsity athletes also improved their times across the board. Most notably, freshman Leslie Johnston powered her way through the course, dropping last week's time by 1:27 and finishing 76th overall with a time of 22:37. As in the varsity meet, packs formed to help the Jumbos pull through.
"I tried to stick with the top girls in the sub-varsity race," freshman Erica Hylton said. "[Sophomore] Veronica Jackson was up front, I kept my eyes on [sophomore] Kate Charyk the whole time, and [sophomore] Betsy Aronson helped push me through the race too."
Morwick decided to rest some of her more seasoned runners-Beck, O'Brien, and sophomore Katie Rizzolo this week-in an effort to gear them up for the bigger races ahead; but the team did not miss a step.
"[The results] showed that we can be really competitive even without a full squad," Morwick said.
The meet was the Jumbos' first encounter with extensive NESCAC competition this season, and the results played out similarly to last year's UMass Dartmouth race. Tufts (119 points) rounded out the top three behind Amherst's first (32 points) and Colby's second (65 points) while speeding ahead of Conn. College (fifth, 167 points) and Trinity (10th, 305 points) for a second time this season.
The team expects to move its way up in the standings later in the season. The return of Beck and O'Brien will no doubt mean a fierce rematch during the upcoming Jumbo Invitational, Tufts' sole home meet, held at the Tufts Veterinary School in Grafton, Mass.
In the Sept. 18 New England Div. III women's cross country poll, the Jumbos sit in third place in the region, behind Amherst and Williams and slightly ahead of Colby. Tufts returned six of its top seven runners and, if it lives up to expectations, should be near the top of the poll all season long.
"I think we're where we should be for this time in the season," said Morwick. "They're showing improvement every week."
