The women's track and field season gets started on Saturday, and with many key athletes returning from last year's successful campaign, the Jumbos are looking to take another step forward as a team.
Led by head coach Kristen Morwick, the Jumbos will rely on both upperclassman experience and a strong core of freshmen and sophomores to continue to grow as a program. After graduating two of the team's three captains, Kanku Kabongo (LA '11) and Rosie Xia (LA '11), the team's core of leadership will come from senior tri−captains Anya Price, Kayley Pettoruto and Katherine Tang. A strong group of fellow upperclassmen with experience at the national level will also aid the Jumbos.
Coming off a promising cross country campaign in which the Tufts qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2006, the core of distance runners look set to deliver outstanding performances during the indoor season.
"Our team had a great cross country season and our distance runners are in great shape," senior Nicole Priscal said. "Even though we are losing a few girls that are going abroad, our young core should be able to pick up the slack and have a great season."
Price will again lead the strong group of younger runners. Sophomores Madeleine Carey, Lauren Creath and Abby Barker, all of whom were members of the Nationals squad, made significant improvements over the cross country season and will be assets to the team.
Sophomore Laura Peterson is coming off a superb finish to her cross country season in which she placed third for the Jumbos at the NCAA Div. III Championships. She will look to build off her strong cross country performance, as well as the experience she gained during her freshman indoor campaign.
Though the distance events look to be in good hands, the Jumbos will have to succeed without cross country tri−captain junior Lilly Fisher, as well as classmates Julia Hajnoczky and Lydia Jessup, all three of whom were key members of the fall team. Fisher placed first for Tufts at Nationals, and Hajnoczky finished among the top seven. The three runners, who all showed signs of marked improvement, will be abroad next semester.
Amy Wilfert (LA '11), who graduated last spring, had been the frontrunner for the Jumbos for two years. As one of the best distance performers in the country, she was always counted on to produce points.
"Wilfert was our strongest distance runner for the past few years," Pettoruto said. "She scored a lot of points for us and that is definitely a hole we will need to fill."
The absence of Kabongo and senior Dayorsha Collins, who is still rehabilitating from knee troubles, will also be tough blows to the jumping and sprinting groups.
"Losing Kanku is definitely tough," Pettoruto said. "She was a major player in the jumps, sprints and relays. She was also a great leader for us and we will miss her presence. Dayorsha is still trying to work back from a knee injury, and we are hoping she will be available during the spring to run for us."
The sprinting core will bring back many of last year's key members as well. Juniors Sam Bissonnette and Alyssa Corrigan, important members of last year's successful 4x400−meter relay team, will be back after narrowly missing a bid to Nationals last year.
The fall track program that the sprinters, jumpers and throwers went through while the cross country runners were competing was improved this year, resulting in better fitness and strength as the season approaches.
"Matt Capone, our new graduate assistant, was very helpful during the fall," Pettoruto said. "He helped design great workouts for us in the fall in addition to getting us in the weight room for some quality lifts. I think we are in better shape than we have been in the last few years coming out of the fall, and that will really benefit us later in the year."
In the jump events, the Jumbos look to be in great shape with senior All−American Nakeisha Jones returning. Last indoor season, she took sixth at the NCAA Championships in the triple jump, and she was seventh outdoors. Senior Heather Theiss returns to the team after making a trip to Nationals in each of last year's two seasons for the pole vault.
Junior Kelly Allen and senior Ronke Oyekunle will lead the throwing crew, which has dominated the region for the last two years. Both throwers qualified for Nationals in the spring — Allen in the discus and Oyekunle in the shot put. Allen placed fourth at that meet, earning All−American honors for the second straight outdoor season. With another year of experience and strength under their belts, the duo should again be among the best in the nation. Junior Sabienne Brutus, after spending this semester abroad, will also be a contributor for the Jumbos in the throwing events.
In order to improve off last year's indoor campaign — during which the team was largely dependent on its field athletes to score big points — the Jumbos will need to perform more consistently in the distance races. Fortunately, with their leaders returning and underclassmen improving, the Jumbos are well−equipped to become a national powerhouse.
"In the past few years, our field events have been incredible," Priscal said. "This year, we have the depth in the running events to be able to take another step forward and improve as a team."
Tufts will compete at the Husky Invitational on Saturday, the team's only meet before winter break.
