Tufts takes second place at Twin Brook Invitational

The women's cross country team ran their way into second place at Saturday's Twin Brook Invitational in Cumberland, Maine. This race was particularly useful for the Jumbos, who will venture back to the same course next month for the NCAA qualifying championships with hopes of sending a team to Nationals.

The one-two punch of senior tri-captain Lauren Caputo and sophomore Rebecca Ades came through yet again for the team, propelling the Jumbos to a victory over such rivals as Keene State, MIT, and Wheaton and falling to only Trinity College, which is currently third in the nation. Caputo once again pulled in the top time for the team, crossing the line at 22:59. Ades was on her heels, finishing with a time of 23:12. Trinity runners snatched the top three spots.

Finishing behind Tufts in third place was MIT with 101 points, and Keene State who finished fourth with 105 points. Connecticut College, the only other NESCAC team racing, and Wheaton finished in fifth and sixth with scores of 154 and 168 points, respectively.

"Overall, we ran very well," coach Kristen Morwick said. "Trinity is top three in the nation, so we weren't looking to keep up with them. The fact that Lauren and Rebecca kept up with the Trinity girls is very encouraging."

Scoring important placement points for the team were the third, fourth, and fifth finishers. Senior tri-captain Lauren Dunn finished the race in 15th place overall with a final time of 23:38, followed by 22nd place finisher Emily Pfeil (24:19) and Sarah Crispin (24:28), who hustled into 25th place.

"Our 3-5 runners ran well, but they are where we need to improve the most," Morwick said. "Those three girls stepping up and improving their times will be the key to our success over the next three weeks."

Sophomore Arielle Aaronson, who entered the race as the Jumbos eighth runner, ran one of her top races of the season and finished 43rd overall, good for seventh best on the squad.

"Arielle really stepped it up this weekend," Morwick said. "It's going to be a matter of our 3-8 runners stepping up to get us to nationals, and this weekend, they all ran great races."

The Jumbos also used the race to avenge themselves on teams and individuals that had beaten them in previous races. Tufts was easily able to dominate regional rivals such as Keene State, Wheaton, MIT, and Connecticut College.

"It was very nice because we ran considerably faster than some of the top teams in the region, teams that had beaten us a few weeks ago," Morwick said. "Becca, especially, was able to knock off a number of girls, including Conn College's number one runner, who had beaten her earlier in the season."

Two weeks ago, the Jumbos had a week off heading into the All-New England Championships. They ran one of their best meets of the season, taking 12th place out of 41 teams from all three divisions.

This week, the Jumbos have another week off, heading into their most important three week stretch of the season, NESCAC's, ECAC's, and the NCAA qualifying meet.

"We always run really well off a weekend of rest," Morwick said. "It almost always pays off."

The culminating meet, which will be held at the same Cumberland course on November 15th, will undoubtedly be the most important. And if this weekend is any indication for Tufts, things are looking very positive.

"This weekend gave us an opportunity to race the course, and if we were going to make mistakes, this was the week to do it," Morwick said. "We went on a fact finding mission, and now we've seen the course and know exactly where we can cut down our times."