Junior Amy Wilfert proved her first ever victory just over two weeks ago was not a mirage, coming through with a second place showing at the Conn. College Invitational to help Tufts finish fifth out of 15 teams.
Wilfert, who won the 2009 Trinity College Invitational on Sept. 12, finished with a time of 22:16 in the team's first 6K race of the season, 27 seconds behind Div. II Southern Connecticut State senior Laura Brustolon.
Brandeis won the meet with 56 points, well ahead of the pack. Tufts, which totaled 101 points, finished only 11 points behind second-place RPI. The top five Jumbos all finished in the top 40, including the sophomore tandem of Bryn Kass and Anya Price, who came in 12th and 13th, respectively.
"I was happy with the results," Price said. "It's a nice time, and it was a good course for ... [our] first 6k race."
While Wilfert paced the Jumbos, her teammates also showed great improvement in their second race of the year. Price, who finished ninth at Trinity, upped her pace from a 6:22 mile in the first race to a 6:16 mark Saturday on a course that was two kilometers longer.
"I think I [set a personal record] by a minute and a half," Kass said. "[Price and I] have been working out and strategizing together, so it was really exciting to see her right there and knowing we'll be able to work off each other in coming races."
Following Price, the rest of the Jumbos' top seven runners all finished between 35th and 42nd. Sophomore Kelsey Picciuto led the pack with a time of 24:19, while freshman Julia Hajnoczky rounded out the group with a time of 24:34 — an impressive mark for the first race of her collegiate career.
"Kelsey came out of nowhere and surprised us," Kass said. "We're excited to see where she goes from here."
"Kelsey had a great race," Price said. "Fourth was the highest she's placed on the team. And Julia contributed in her first cross country race, let alone 6K."
Wilfert has taken over for classmate Steph McNamara as the team's top runner, as McNamara is likely to be out for the season with a hip injury. Wilfert again proved herself to be one of the top runners in the region on Saturday, but she will see her greatest test on Oct. 10 at Tufts' next race, the All-New England Championship at Franklin Park in Boston, in which dozens of schools from all three divisions compete on a 5K course.
The Jumbos, who competed in only two September races this year compared to four last year, plan on using the time off between now and then to their advantage.
"We're using time off to get in some extra workouts since we don't have as many meets this year," Price said. "We have more opportunities to get our pack-running together and get more workouts in than we normally do."
Last year at All-New Englands, McNamara finished sixth while Wilfert came in 21st out of 301 runners; they were the only Jumbos to place in the top 100, leading the squad to a 14th-place finish out of 45 teams. In one of the most crowded and competitive races of the year, Price hopes to continue to run alongside Kass so that the duo can better its performances in its second go-round.
"This is such a huge race this year, so I'm mainly trying to gauge myself off of my teammate Bryn Kass," Price said. "We want to work with each other and move up in pack together instead of last race where we ran close but apart. And there are so many people, so it's important to gauge yourself off teammates. We hope that we can help each other, and we'll see what it's like running among crowds. It should be a great opportunity to work on pack-running in a shorter race."
Kass also emphasized the strategic part of racing, especially with regards to more competitive contests.
"The more you race, the better you do," Kass said. "You learn more about your own tactics and how quick you are in certain aspects. You know whether you want to go all out in first mile.
"All-New Englands is a fast race, and there are so many great runners from all over the place, it's important to know how you fare against stronger runners and how to work off people," she continued. "There are a lot of opportunities to experiment and go out harder or to go out slower and try to pick up the pace later."
If Price and Kass are able to work together and run as well as they did Saturday, both have a chance to improve on their respective 127th and 188th places from last year and vault into the top 100.
"When it comes down to it, you know how you'll do when the race starts," Kass said. "So I just want to compete with this group. I want to challenge myself and come over the line knowing I couldn't have tried any harder."
