Balance is the key to many things, and heading into the upcoming indoor season, it is the women's track team's greatest asset. The Jumbos hope their ability to perform well in just about every event will lead to their second New England Div. III title in three years.
"That's definitely the strength of this team — that we're balanced," coach Kristen Morwick said. "We also have a little more depth than last year, and I think that will help us do better. That's always the goal: to do better than the previous year."
"We won the [New England] Div. III Championships my sophomore year," senior Logan Crane said. "That's definitely our biggest goal for this season, because we finished [third] there last year and we know we can do better as a team this year."
Last season was another banner campaign for Morwick's team. The Jumbos were the top-ranked team in the inaugural U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Div. III rankings, and at last March's NCAA championships they shined in a variety of events, placing fifth in a pool of the best teams from across the country. It was Tufts' second straight finish in the top 10 at the competition, and this year it hopes to replicate, or perhaps even improve upon, that effort.
The distance medley relay team of then-sophomores Amy Wilfert and Stephanie McNamara and then-seniors Halsey Stebbins and Jackie Ferry took home Tufts' second consecutive Div. III national title in the event and the 15th overall single-event crown in the program's history. Additionally, then-freshmen Nakeisha Jones made an excellent first impression, finishing fourth in the triple jump in her first nationals appearance and earning All-American status.
"Making nationals last year in my first year was great," Jones said. "I hope to do really well again this year and make it back to nationals, and I know that's basically our goal for everyone."
The Jumbos also return Crane, who won a share of the Sebasteanski Award — which honors the NESCAC's Most Outstanding Performer in track and field — last spring for her standout efforts in the 100m dash and the long jump. She won conference titles in both events at NESCACs in April and will be looking to make it back to nationals after missing out on the event last season.
Wilfert is coming off an excellent performance during the fall cross country season, which culminated with a 31st place finish at nationals that earned her All-American honors, and will lead the Jumbos' distance unit. With all the returning talent, it's not hard to see why optimism abounds heading into the upcoming campaign, even though the team will be without McNamara, who will miss the season while recovering from surgery.
"Not having Stephanie is a big loss for us," senior co-captain Andrea Ferri said. "She's one of our best distance runners. But we still have a great, well-rounded team, with Amy Wilfert on distance, the sophomore jumpers and a freshman class that's been working hard throughout the fall."
"We definitely have a good freshman class coming in, but I think our upperclassmen having an extra year of experience is going to help a lot too," Morwick added. "We didn't graduate a lot of girls last year, and that continuity is going to help us as well."
The Jumbos' indoor season begins in Maine on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the Bates Pentathlon. Tufts will host its own invitational on Saturday, Jan. 16, as well as the Tufts Pentathlon and a second invitational on Feb. 5-6. But undoubtedly the biggest meet of the season will occur on Feb. 19-20: the New England Div. III Championships, which will be held at Southern Maine.
"Our goal is always to improve," Jones said. "Winning Div. IIIs, getting a lot of us to nationals — that's always the goal and I think we can do really well this season."
