Sometimes in cross country, two seconds make all the difference in the world.
Such was the case for junior Amy Wilfert at Sunday's NESCAC Championship, as she was edged out at the finish line and ultimately finished in third place — just two seconds behind the eventual champion, Amherst senior Sophia Galleher.
Galleher won the 6 kilometer race at Trinity's Wickham Park with a time of 21:39, while Wilfert, with a at a 5:43 mile pace, crossed the line at the 21:41 mark — one second behind runner-up senior Ravenna Neville of Wesleyan.
"I got impatient in the last 800 meters or so, so I started my finishing kick too soon," Wilfert said. "If I had sat and waited longer, I maybe could have made up those two seconds — I maybe would have had a little bit left in my legs.
"But I'm happy with the results," she continued. "I had nothing left in me when I finished, so there's basically nothing more you can do. Maybe not having gotten impatient would have helped, but in the end you don't know."
The time was a personal record, according to Wilfert, who says she is still hoping to peak at upcoming races, including the NCAA New England Championships in two weeks.
In a field of 11 teams and 121 runners, four competitors separated themselves from the pack. Middlebury's top runner, junior Claire McIlvennie, fell back from the top three toward the end and ultimately finished in fourth place, separated from the third- and fifth-placed runners by over 15 seconds. Winning the race came down to a sprint between Wilfert, Galleher and Neville.
"We stayed together the entire race, and it was different from what I'm used to," Wilfert said.
This was the fourth consecutive year Tufts had a runner finish in the top three at NESCACs. Last season, junior Stephanie McNamara, who is not competing this season due to injury, was the runner-up.
Overall, Tufts finished seventh with 177 points. Middlebury, with four of its five scoring runners placing in the top ten, won the championship, edging out second-place Williams by 10 points.
"Coming in we thought on a good day we could take fourth and a bad day we might finish ninth," Wilfert said. "Seventh wasn't unexpected, just disappointing."
"As a team I know we can do better than seventh," sophomore Anya Price added. "There were a lot of factors that went into our performance today. Some people were feeling under the weather."
Price followed Wilfert as the next Tufts runner to finish, coming in 39th place in a time of 23:21. The third Tufts scorer was freshman Grace Hafner, who was followed by sophomore Sadie Lansdale.
"Sadie Lansdale had a great [personal record]," Price said. "She [beat her personal record] by 40 seconds in the 6K, and on such a hilly course that's a big accomplishment. She's just stepping into the varsity crew this year, and it's been a great improvement from last year."
However, Lansdale's success came at the expense of a couple of Jumbos who have been accustomed to finishing near the front of the pack — in particular, sophomore Bryn Kass. Kass and Price have perennially been the No. 2 and No. 3 runners for Tufts behind Wilfert this year. But Kass, battling health problems, finished seventh for Tufts and 83rd overall in 24:56, well off her usual pace. Kass' classmate, sophomore Kelsey Picciuto, finished two seconds behind Lansdale to round out the Tufts top five.
Tufts had only run one previous race of at least six kilometers — the Connecticut College Invitational on Oct. 26. That course, however, was flatter than the steep one at Trinity, which Price called the most difficult of the year due to the rolling hills and mud.
"I ran a strong race and was able to take advantage of the downhills," she said. "Generally hills tend to be a weaker area for me. But taking advantage of the downhills proved to pay off for me at the end … It was a good meet to get under our belts and get used to the terrain before Regionals."
Next week, Tufts heads to Williams for the ECAC Championship before the regional NCAA New England Championship at the University of Southern Maine. Wilfert said that her goal is to earn another top-five finish at Regionals and to place in the top ten at Nationals. Meanwhile, as a team, Tufts will have to improve on its showing at the conference championship if it has any hope of advancing to the NCAA Championship in Cleveland on Nov. 21.
"We're hoping to go to Nationals, which just eluded us the past two years," Price said. "We finished sixth at Regionals last year, and the top five teams go to Nationals. If everybody is able to step it up, I think we can get there."
