Tufts' top three were at it again this weekend, as senior tri-captains Cat Beck and Katy O'Brien and freshman Stephanie McNamara each placed in the top ten at the NCAA Div. III New England Regionals in Waterford, Conn.
Although a sixth-place finish left the Jumbos just shy of qualifying for Nationals as a team, Tufts will not go unrepresented. With Beck, O'Brien and McNamara taking fourth, fifth and ninth respectively, the trio earned a shot to do it again at the NCAA Championships next weekend.
"Obviously it would be awesome to have our whole team out there, but I'm so happy that Katy, Steph and I are going to get to travel and go together," Beck said. "It's always good to have company out there."
Amherst and Williams earned the automatic team bids by taking the top two spots in the race. The Lord Jeffs obliterated the competition, finishing a solid 56 points ahead of the Ephs by placing all five scorers within the top 15. They were followed by Bowdoin, Colby and Middlebury, all of whom earned at-large berths. The Panthers just edged out the Jumbos, taking fifth by a mere 10 points.
While the Jumbos were unable to beat out any of their NESCAC foes that placed ahead of them in the conference championship, they did upset nationally-ranked No. 26 MIT.
"We're trying to put the best spin on it that we can," Beck said. "We had a lot of [personal bests] and a lot of really good things, so you just have to take those things away from the situation and turn it into a positive learning experience."
Beck finished first for the Jumbos, landing fourth place with a time of 21:34. O'Brien was right behind her, nailing down fifth at 21:43.
"We both got out and kind of found each other as the race started to thin out," Beck said. "It's awesome to have a teammate who you know you can run with and know you can push each other. We both knew we'd never be alone because we have each other ... I think that's probably a huge factor in both of our success throughout the season."
McNamara was not far off, running an outstanding race to take ninth place with a 22:02.
"Before the race, I sat down and talked to [coach Kristen Morwick]," McNamara said. "We discussed trying out a strategy to kind of go out easier in the beginning and stay relaxed, and then to really pick it up and go after some people from other teams as the race progressed."
"She pointed out a bunch of people that she really wanted me to go after and I ended up beating a majority of them," she continued. "So that kind of gave me something to shoot for throughout the race."
In the biggest race of her collegiate career to date, McNamara improved on her 15th-place showing at NESCACs against many of the same competitors, using the pair to gauge her position over the course of the race.
"I really basically have been just judging off of Cat and Katy," McNamara said. "I went out expecting to see them and to try to use them to know where I should be throughout the race. That's been great this whole year. It's really helped being able to run and train with them - they are really amazing runners."
Freshman Amy Wilfert and junior Amy Hopkins rounded out the Jumbo scorers, with Wilfert in 80th place and Hopkins in 83rd. Hopkins' performance was clutch for the Jumbos, as she substituted for freshman Christy Loftus, who experienced leg pain during the team's warm-ups.
"It's very tough for someone to say 'I'm not the best person for the job today,' and Christy just said it and didn't look back," Beck said. "She was right out there in the thick of things helping Amy get her stuff together, and she was as much a part of the team as ever. I was very impressed by her maturity.
"Of course, Amy did a great job taking everything in stride," Beck continued. "That's just what you would hope for an alternate. For Amy to have such a great race was awesome to be a part of."
