The women's track and field team made a smooth transition to the outdoor oval, taking second place in the annual Tufts-hosted Snowflake Classic on Saturday. The Jumbos compiled 149.50 points, trailing only Div. I Boston University, which finished with 181 points. More important than the team score, however, were the impressive times put up on an unusually comfortable March afternoon.
"I think overall we had a really good day in all events," senior tri-captain Jackie Ferry said. "I think that we were really balanced. It showed good signs for later in the season."
Sophomore Stephanie McNamara was a double winner for Tufts, capturing first in both the 800-meter and 1,500-meter races, with respective times of 2:19.85 and 4:37.35. She dominated both races from the gun and held large leads throughout, finishing the 1,500 nearly 16 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. McNamara also ran the second leg in Tufts' 4x400 meter relay that finished in fourth place. While McNamara plans to focus on the 1,500 and 5k towards the end of the season, she is working on shorter distances to improve her speed.
Although BU dominated most of the sprint events, a few Jumbos were able to lock up a place in the top eight. A baby-blue blur among a sea of red, junior Logan Crane finished fourth in the 100 meters in a time of 12.62, though she ran a smoother 12.48 in the preliminaries. Crane, to her credit, didn't sugarcoat the reasons for a slightly slower time in the finals.
"My legs were much fresher for the trials than for the finals," Crane said. "To be perfectly honest, I was tired, and my muscles were sore."
Senior Halsey Stebbins, while missing a chance at the 100-meter final by less than two tenths of a second, secured an 8th place finish in the 200-meter with a time of 26.50.
The Jumbos had a strong showing in the distance events, capped by sophomore Amy Wilfert's victory in the 5,000 meters, in which her 18:09.20 mark was a full minute faster of the second-place runner. In the 800-meter, freshman Kayley Pettoruto took home third place, running a 2:25.30. Senior Amy Hopkins took 5th place for Tufts in the 5k, while Ferry managed a sixth place finish in the 1,500 for her first time running the event.
"That's the longest race that I've run, so I was going into it just hoping that I could hold on," Ferry said.
Senior tri-captain Paula Dormon and freshman Heather Theiss led the way in the field events with wins in the shot put and pole vault. Dormon's distance of 40' 3/4" was the only 40-foot effort in the shot put finals. Crane took third place in the long jump, with a solid leap of 17'6.25". Also placing in the long jump were sophomore Kanku Kabongo and freshman Nakeisha Jones. Kabongo, however, fared better in the triple jump, taking second place with a distance of 36'3". In the javelin throw, Tufts took second and third, with the combination of sophomores Sarah Nolet and Kelly Engelking throwing 113'11" and 107'11", respectively.
The foursome of Jones, Crane, Stebbins and junior Andrea Ferri combined for a second-place finish in the 4x100 meter relay, once again finishing behind BU's sprint crew. Having faced Div. I competition, however, will be helpful going forward.
"Some people thrive off the increased competition and really enjoy it," Crane said. "I think it's good for most runners to have a high level of excellence around them."
"The better competition definitely helps us, especially with our top athletes," Ferry added. "The other schools that were there didn't give us great competition, so it was very important that we had the Div. I schools around."
The Jumbos now look forward to a week of practice followed by a trip to Stonehill, Mass. for the Stonehill Invitational on Saturday. With the much-anticipated NESCAC Championship meet already less than a month away, every day of preparation is crucial for Tufts, be it a workout day or an off day.
"With the outdoor season being so short, you take every day and every meet as very important competition," Crane said.
