Last year at the NCAA New England Championship, the women's cross country finished sixth out of 49 teams, missing out on qualifying for the NCAA Div. III Championship by one spot. On Saturday, the Jumbos will head to Southern Maine to again take part in the New England Championship, this time looking for a shot at redemption.
Junior Amy Wilfert will pace the Jumbos this year, though she will likely earn a berth to nationals regardless of how the team fares. Wilfert and classmate Stephanie McNamara both earned the trip to Indiana for last year's NCAAs, as both finished among the top seven runners on non-qualifying teams.
Stepping up to replace an injured McNamara this season, Wilfert has filled the role of the team's No. 1 runner. After suffering a two-second loss to the first-place finisher in the NESCAC Championship two weeks ago, Wilfert has a second chance of sorts with the opportunity to win the individual medal in the New England Championship.
Though the Jumbos as a team placed a mediocre seventh at NESCACs, they have had time to rest and prepare for this weekend.
"We have little injuries here and there," sophomore Bryn Kass said. "When it comes to racing, you're so in tune with how your body feels that little sicknesses show up at the last minute. But everyone we're counting on is going to be racing."
Kass and fellow sophomore Anya Price have traditionally been the next two runners after Wilfert to cross the finish line. But over the last two races, sophomore Sadie Lansdale has stepped up her performance, and she may play a pivotal role in scoring points if Tufts is to qualify for the NCAA Championship in Cleveland, Ohio on Nov. 21.
In her rookie year, Lansdale was not an instrumental part of the team, and coming into November, she had not yet finished as one of Tufts' top runners. But at NESCACs, she placed fourth for Tufts with a time of 24:07, and she was the top Jumbo at the ECAC Championships last week — though the team's first tier of runners skipped that race. She credited her improvement to increased training over the summer and has high hopes for Saturday.
"I'd like to see my time below 24 minutes," Lansdale said. "It's a huge field, so I really think the way to do that is to get out hard, mostly because all of my teammates who are as fast or faster than I am will be running, so I've got people to pace me. As a team, we're hoping for top five and shooting for Nationals."
Nearly 50 teams and over 300 runners annually compete at New Englands. The top two teams are guaranteed spots at Nationals, but a top five finish is usually enough for an at-large bid.
According to Lansdale, no runner has seen the course, but Kass is nevertheless optimistic about the conditions.
"There is a bit of rolling hills, but no extreme hills," Kass said. "The last two courses had pretty challenging slopes, which definitely slows down the race and changes strategy. We've trained more for flatter courses. We'll go out Friday to run the course and visualize how we'll run it on Saturday to be prepared."
The last time the Jumbos made the NCAA Championship was in 2006, following a fourth-place showing at New Englands. While Middlebury, the defending national champion, and Williams are seen as favorites, Tufts will also have to compete with the likes of Amherst and Wesleyan in order to advance.
"It's a really exciting time because right now, we're at the peak of our fitness," Kass said. "All that really matters now is how willing you are to exert as much energy as possible. How much pain can you go through? Our coach told us there was a study that showed that you can go two minutes at your maximum, and when it comes down to it, those last two minutes where you are at your maximum effort will decide the race."
