The women's cross-country team celebrated a stellar performance at last week's Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship race at Tufts' home course in Grafton, MA last Saturday. It placed fifth out of forty-five teams, falling only to Middlebury, Williams, Springfield, and Colby. The fifth place finish this Saturday was the highest ever at past ECAC Championship races. Their performance is a testament to the overwhelming strength of this year's team.
The Jumbos raced their second seven runners at the ECAC Championships in order to rest the seven who will race in next week's qualifier. The women who did race all showed themselves to be competitive with the team's top seven runners.
Senior Tiffany Davis was the first Tufts woman to place, finishing 21st out of 250 women with a time of 20:25. In an excellent example of pack running, the next six Jumbos - freshman Heidi Tyson (20:30), freshman Mary Nodine (20:42), senior Nicole Gregoire (20:59), junior Monika Navarro (21:11), freshman Kathryn Hughes (21:12), and sophomore Ashley Langworthy (21:23) - all finished within a minute of Davis.
After lesser performances at the New England Championship race on October 15 and at the NESCAC Championship race on October 30, last Saturday is an affirmation of the women's capability.
"We're all very excited," coach Branwen Smith-King said. "This really demonstrated our strength as a team."
"We've been having trouble being cohesive," freshman Heidi Tyson said. "We got it together on Saturday."
Unfortunately, despite Saturday's performance, the Jumbos have not moved up in the New England Division III rankings and will go into the qualifier next Saturday ranked sixth. Middlebury, Williams, Brandeis, Amherst, and Colby are ranked one through five respectively and will prove to be worthy opponents at the qualifier.
Although Tufts is the obvious underdog to place in the top three, the position needed to qualify for nationals, if it maximizes its potential qualifying it is still a possibility. The varsity seven runners for next week will consist of seniors Tiffany Davis, Nicole Gregoire, Cindy Manning, and captain Caitlin Murphy; juniors Leslie Crofton and Jennifer Edelmann; and sophomore Heather Ballantyne.
Tiffany Davis is the only woman racing next week who raced last Saturday as well. Her shining performance at the ECAC Championship race further proved her value to the team.
"It was a race that will give me confidence for next weekend," Davis said.
Cindy Manning, the powerhouse of the women's team, has been the first Jumbo to place in every race she has run this season. Not only is she an invaluable asset because of her stellar times, but she serves as a challenge for the rest of the team to live up to.
One woman who has given Cindy a challenge of her own is Leslie Crofton. Crofton has worked all season to close the gaps among the top seven and has been very successful.
"Leslie Crofton has been on fire this season," Murphy said earlier this season, "she started out the season strong and has kept the momentum up."
Murphy herself, along with Gregoire, Edelmann, and Ballantyne, has consistently placed in the top seven, providing points for the team. Both Gregoire and Ballantyne have run personal bests in this season's competition.
The entire team is now focused on the goal of Nationals. The team is excited about its potential and is encouraged by last weekend's results. It is beginning to taper its workouts and focus on speed work rather than endurance.
"Our main strategy is picking off every Amherst, Brandeis, Colby, Middlebury, and Williams girl that we can," said senior and captain Molly Frank-Meltzer, "and to place close to one another and close behind Cindy."
