The women's distance medley relay team (DMR) went into the weekend's ECAC Championships in the Gantcher Center with one goal in mind: improving upon its provisional qualifying mark with the hopes of cementing a spot at Nationals.
"We were trying to automatically qualify for Nationals," senior tri-captain Jackie Ferry said. "We were also looking for the win so none of the teams competing at ECACs would be able to pass us on the Nationals list."
The four-person crew did exactly that, besting its previous time by nearly 10 seconds en route to recording an automatic qualifying time that is currently the best in the country going into the NCAA Championships this weekend. The squad finished first to earn Tufts 10 of its total 30 points as the team placed 10th overall at its fourth home meet of the season.
Ferry, classmate Halsey Stebbins and sophomores Amy Wilfert and Stephanie McNamara first ran the DMR together at the Valentine Invitational at Boston University on Feb. 14, coming in at a provisional qualifying time of 12:08.69 seconds after conversion accounting for BU's banked track. The squad next ran the event at the New England Open Championships at BU on Feb. 27, taking first at the meet that featured Div. I and Div. II competition with a time of 11:56.72. Still, the foursome did not believe that its mark -- sixth in the country at the time -- was enough to ensure that it would be participating at NCAAs, as only the top 10 times make the cut. The Jumbos chose to give it one final go on their home track, and the results speak for themselves; their time of 11:47.96 seconds not only represents a vast improvement over their previous attempt, but also a mark six seconds ahead of the automatic standard (11:53.60) and two seconds ahead of the next closest time in the country (11:49.73), also set at ECACs by the College of New Jersey.
"We were thrilled," Ferry said. "I think we were all actually kind of shocked. We were only going for [11:53.60] -- anything better than that would be spectacular. Running an [11:47.96] and winning and almost beating the ECAC record was absolutely amazing. I loved every second of it."
"We were psyched," McNamara added. "It was hard to believe. I anchored it and the moment I crossed the finish line I looked at the clock and had to do a double take. It was awesome. I can't believe we're No. 1 in the country right now -- it's incredible. We did exactly hat we wanted to do."
The athletes on the DMR team were not the only ones to meet qualifying standards for Tufts over the weekend, as junior Logan Crane surpassed the provisional qualifier of 7.30 in the preliminary round of the 55-meter dash, running a 7.27. Her time only puts her at 17th in the country, however. Crane also went on to run a 7.31 in the finals to claim fifth place.
In other events for the Jumbos, senior tri-captain Paula Dormon placed third in the shot put with a distance of 41'10", while first-year Dayorsha Collins took fourth in the high jump with a mark of 5'3 3/4".
Tufts will now look to Nationals, to be held at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. Aside from the DMR team, freshman Nakeisha Jones will compete in the triple jump, in which she currently holds the second-best clip in the nation, while McNamara will forego the mile and compete in the 5,000-meter run, as there is only one heat that will take place near the end of the meet compared with the preliminary and final heats for the mile.
"It's a little disappointing because I definitely enjoy the mile and have been training in it, but I've also been in the 3k and 5k this season, so I don't think it's going to be a huge deal," McNamara said. "I'm really excited about the DMR; the fact that we can win in now means a lot, and we're all going be fresh and ready to go."
"I think that if we can run the way we did Friday, we'll have a great shot at winning," Ferry said of the DMR team. "There are going to be a lot of strong teams so it'll be hard but I think we'll be ready to do it if given a good situation."
