With a program-best fifth place finish at Nationals last year, the 2006 women's cross country team's season was one for the books. But with only one member of that squad returning this year, the Jumbos knew it would be a hard act to follow.
Injuries plagued the team early on, which didn't make the Jumbos' job any easier. Besides senior tri-captain Katy O'Brien and freshman Stephanie McNamara, both of whom had recovered from injuries prior to the beginning of the season, junior Katie Rizzolo was sidelined for the entire year and tri-captain Cat Beck did not make her senior debut with the team until the Oct. 6 All-New England Championships.
"Basically only one of our top seven was running to start the year, and that was Katy," coach Kristen Morwick said. "It was tough to kind of push through and try to do as well as we did last year - or almost as well - with a completely different team."
The voids from last year's team were filled by a slew of new faces, including junior Amy Hopkins, sophomore Lisa Picascia and a talented freshman class led by McNamara, Christy Loftus and Amy Wilfert. Senior tri-captain Betsy Aaronson provided leadership in the absence of O'Brien and Beck.
"It was great having the captains - Katy, Cat and also Betsy," Morwick said. "I think they did a really nice job dealing with basically a whole new team this year, especially the top two runners. You have to give them a lot of credit for keeping focused in the middle of injuries and also being great captains."
With Beck out of the early-season lineup, O'Brien came through for the Jumbos, winning two of her first three races to lead the team. The Jumbos were also helped out by strong performances from some of their other upperclassmen, including Hopkins and senior Anna Shih.
Things continued to improve for the Jumbos, as Beck eventually returned in full force, excelling in the postseason and joining O'Brien at the front of the pack. The latter half of the season also saw strong progress from many of the team's freshman runners, particularly the standout McNamara, who posted a 15th-place finish at NESCACs and a ninth-place finish at New Englands that earned her a chance to join O'Brien and Beck in running individually at Nationals.
"It's always hard when you're a freshman because college is just so much more competitive," Shih said. "The freshman really came into their own and realized that they are NCAA quality, especially Steph. She has what it takes to race with the best of them."
Despite exceptional top three, the Jumbos struggled to bridge the gap between the top of the group and the rest of the top seven. After taking sixth place in a closely-contested NESCAC Championship race, the team was once again outrun by its conference opponents to finish sixth at Regionals, out of contention for an NCAA Championships berth.
But O'Brien, Beck and McNamara were able to bring home individual honors, as they placed 16th, 21st and 30th respectively at NCAAs to each earn All-American recognition in Northfield, Minn. McNamara became the first freshman All-American in program history.
The Jumbos now look ahead to the future, as they will work to solidify their top seven to hang with the always-tough New England competition. But unfortunately for the Jumbos, they will have to do it without a group of key seniors including O'Brien, Beck and Shih.
"It's just going to be a young team [next year]," Morwick said. "It might take a couple years to be back where we were - it depends on next year's freshman class and who we get. There are always surprises."
"You never know what's going to happen or who is going to come along, but I don't think it's going to be as hard to bridge that gap," McNamara added. "We'll just have to see how the training goes at the end of this year and who we have. I think there's some really good hope for the future."
Though this year's seniors will be irreplaceable, their influence has undoubtedly left a mark on the team's younger members.
"I think this year will definitely contribute to the next coming years in that sense," McNamara said. "Just being able to watch them and have somebody to model after definitely helps for the freshmen to get acclimated.
"We are losing a huge portion of our team, and the seniors have been really great for us," McNamara continued. "But I think their impact will help to make us leaders as well, and that's going to bring the team together next year and the year after and so on."
