There aren't too many teams out there who can say that last year's NCAA Div. III Championship results looked like a rematch of their conference championships.
At last year's NESCAC Championships, the women's cross country team managed a second-place showing, placing just five points behind Amherst and beating out Williams and Middlebury, who came in third and fourth respectively. Two weeks later, all four teams finished within the top eight at Nationals with the Panthers edging the Lord Jeffs by one point to take the title.
Top national rankings have become the norm for the NESCAC, and this year is no exception. Heading into this weekend's NESCAC Championships in Williamstown, Amherst (No. 1), Williams (No. 5), Bowdoin (No. 18), Middlebury (No. 20) and Tufts (No. 34) all rank within the top 35 teams in the country.
With such stiff competition, Tufts will need to be at its best come race time, especially if it hopes to upset some of its highly-ranked opponents. With so many capable teams at the top, not even the Lord Jeffs are safe.
"We're just excited to test ourselves," said Pete Farwell, coach of the host Ephs. "I'm always pretty sure we're going to do well, but we don't know exactly in relation to other teams."
Luckily for the Jumbos, the team will be riding the momentum from its last competition, a team victory at Oct. 13's Plansky Invitational in which senior tri-captains Katy O'Brien and Cat Beck and freshman Stephanie McNamara locked up the top three spots in the race. With their No. 1 through 3 runners in place, the Jumbos will look to the rest of their top seven to keep them competitive.
"Ideally, we'll finish in the top three, which means beating Bowdoin and Middlebury who have beaten us in the last couple meets," coach Kristen Morwick said. "I think we're strong enough to do that. On a really good day, we could challenge Williams for second, on a good day we could be third, and if we're just average or racing how we have been, we could be fourth or fifth.
"A lot will depend on how well our middle pack runs," Morwick continued. "The top three are really competitive, and then it's a matter of getting that next group sort of up there."
Over the last two weeks, the Jumbos have been working to do just that, keeping a prominent focus on group running during practices.
"With our workouts, we've really focused on staying together," freshman Christy Loftus said. "We have a different girl lead each interval, and then everyone tries to stay with each other."
"It just first of all helps your team because you have people to run with that you train with," Morwick said. "It's also pretty intimidating to the other teams to see a pack of Tufts people instead of just one or a bunch of people strung out. It's a big competitive tactic, but it's also a good strategy in terms of helping your own teammates."
Tufts was also fortunate to get an advanced look at most of the course at the Plansky Invitational, which was also held in Williamstown.
"It's a pretty challenging course," Morwick said. "It's got one pretty significant hill in the last mile. It's on grass and trails, and it's rolling hills - it's a true cross country course, so it should be good."
"If you're familiar with the course, you know where to push and where to hold back, and you know how long you can stretch your kick," Farwell said
The Jumbos should also be in good shape physically, since they took last weekend off from competition in order to prepare for the upcoming championship race.
"We worked through and had two hard workouts instead of just one," Loftus said. "It allowed us to have a weekend to get rested up and ready for NESCACs without having to get on a 7 a.m. bus."
"We've definitely been keeping it at the same intensity," O'Brien said. "We've gotten two good weeks of training in, and we're definitely going to do well this weekend, so we're all looking forward to it."
