The women's cross country team took eighth place out of 51 teams at the 2010 NCAA Div. III New England Regional Championships hosted by Williams on Saturday.
The Jumbos finished with 194 points at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, but with only two automatic bids and a maximum of three at−large bids available, they were left frustrated as it failed to qualify for nationals.
Going into the meet, Middlebury and Williams were both ranked in the top three in the country, and both schools performed like favorites to secure the automatic bids. Middlebury took the victory with 58 points, easily distancing itself from Williams, who finished with 91 points after one of its top women dropped out during the race.
Receiving at−large bids were Amherst and MIT, with 103 and 105 points, respectively. Colby finished fifth with 157 points, but did not receive an at−large bid.
Senior tri−captain Amy Wilfert led the Jumbos with a sixth−place overall finish, running the six−kilometer course in a time of 22:35. Her effort earned her All−Region honors.
Junior Anya Price also received All−Region honors by finishing 26th in 23:13. Just missing the top 35 was sophomore Lilly Fisher, who finished in 23:32 for 37th.
After Fisher came a trio of freshmen. Laura Peterson finished 58th in 24:05, and rounding out the scoring was Lauren Creath in 24:19, good for 67th place. First−year Abby Barker and sophomore Melanie Monroe were the final finishers for the Jumbos, in 24:29 (76th) and 24:40 (81st), respectively.
Sophomore Jennifer Gossels from Williams took the individual title in 21:42, two weeks after her win at the NESCAC Championships. There were 336 women who finished the race.
The sixth−place finish for Wilfert was her best ever at the Regional meet, besting last year's finish by one spot. In addition to earning All−Region honors, her finish among the top seven athletes not affiliated with a National qualifying team earned her a third straight trip to Nationals.
"I felt like I was in much better control of my race this weekend than in prior races," Wilfert said. "I didn't go in with any set plan, so during the race I never lost focus mentally."
After tough conditions hurt the performance of many athletes at NESCACs, the Jumbos were happy to get back on a course where they had past success.
"It was a relief to be running at Williams, where our team has lots of experience and I have run personal bests," Price said. "I knew that I would have to shrug off my performance at NESCACs so that it wouldn't mess with my head for regionals. Fortunately, my two years of experience running at Williams, the body−painted cheering teammates, and the perfect weather made it ideal conditions to end the season on a high note."
The body−painted teammates, known the "Tufts Crazies," are perennially the best supporters of any team at the Regional meet.
Even though the team did not qualify for nationals, it still has high spirits.
"We really just wanted to get after it and focus on passing people throughout the race," Wilfert said. "Throughout the year we placed an emphasis on improving at every meet."
"We were coming in as an underdog of sorts," Price added. "Although Nationals would have been the icing on the cake, we've had an incredibly strong season. We're fortunate to have six of the [top] seven returning next year. The race highlighted some great performances, including a big PR from Laura Peterson, but the fact that we didn't go to Nationals was not the be−all−end−all of our season."
Looking ahead to Nationals, Wilfert hopes to repeat as an All−American.
"This year I'm feeling a lot more relaxed going into nationals," Wilfert said. "I'm feeling confident knowing that this is my third trip to nationals. My experience will reduce a lot of the shock factor."
