After missing the cut for the NCAA National Championship race as a team, the women's cross country squad couldn't have asked for much more from its pair of individual representatives, sophomores Stephanie McNamara and Amy Wilfert, at this weekend's race in Hanover, Ind.
Both McNamara and Wilfert ran nearly flawlessly in what were by far their best respective races of the season, with Wilfert cracking the top 50 for 48th place in her first Nationals race and McNamara earning All-American honors for the second straight year with an 11th-place finish.
"It's hard when you're not there with a team and you don't have the team motivating you," coach Kristen Morwick said. "You just kind of have what you put on yourself individually, and I think they both really responded well to that ... I'm really glad that Amy and Steph represented Tufts so well."
For McNamara, whose 30th-place finish in the 2007 race marked the best-ever by a Tufts freshman, the goal was simple: improve on last year's showing. And having finished as high as No. 2 in the conference over the course of the season, a dramatic jump seemed well within McNamara's reach.
"I wasn't really positive that I could get into the top 15," McNamara said. "I didn't know the competition field that well from other regions, [but Morwick] and I kind of had this understanding that it would be possible this year."
But even McNamara herself may not have anticipated just how pronounced that jump would be. After hanging back for the first mile, McNamara inched her way up in the second mile, keeping pace with the top five for a large chunk of the race and warding off the group that threatened to overtake her. McNamara's time, a 21:23.7, vaulted her 19 spots ahead of the mark she set last season.
"Steph was pretty determined to do better than she did last year," Morwick said. "I think that was motivating her ... that's the smartest race she's run all season, and what a time to do it."
The heavy Nationals competition also factored into McNamara's success; whereas she often found herself with a large lead in other races this season, in this weekend's race other frontrunners kept constant pressure on and kept her from easing up.
"At Nationals, any time you let up at all, someone is there to pass you," McNamara said. "It's not just one person -- there's a group of people. Within a one- or two-second spread, there can be four people. It's crazy.
"Last year when I got passed by that group, they gapped me a little bit," she continued. "[This year] I had enough to keep working towards them. Even though I couldn't catch them, it played a crucial role -- not only was I going after them, I could hear people behind me ... that's probably the biggest thing that helped me in this race."
Wilfert's feat was similarly impressive in her first appearance on the national stage. After finishing 14th at Regionals Nov. 15, she beat out all but seven of her New England competitors, just missing All-American recognition by 15 seconds.
"You can't really find fault with her race," Morwick said. "It's Nationals, and there are some great runners out there. I think for her first time ever, she's just made such improvements ... yeah, she doesn't get the All-American, but she still had a phenomenal season and ran great at Nationals."
Wilfert's placement was steady within the field, as she stayed within the range of the upper 30s and upper 40s. The race capped off a remarkable fall campaign for Wilfert, whose hard work paid off in the form of a vastly improved sophomore campaign.
"Amy was pretty much out there doing that on her own," Morwick said. "I give her a lot of credit for fighting so hard."
While the Jumbos' team performance may have been less than ideal this season, with youth on its side, Morwick is confident that next year's lineup will benefit from McNamara and Wilfert's successes this weekend.
"What's great is that they're only sophomores," Morwick said. "They'll have many more experiences at this level. Every time you can run at a national championship and do well and PR, that just gives you confidence for the next time around. I think it was a great week and a great experience for those guys."
