Last week, women's track and field coach Kristen Morwick predicted a finish in the top three at this weekends Div. III New England Championships held at Springfield College.
She predicted the finish despite the fact that the team is at one of its most stressful points of the year academically, and is currently strapped by injuries -- such as the loss of sophomore Jillian Warner due to a fall at last weekend's NESCAC Championship.
The team made good on her predictions, taking second place in the event and improving its performance by one spot from last year's third place finish at the same event. Not only that, but several members of the squad earned qualifying times in both the New England Open next weekend and Div III National Championships at the end of May.
However, the second place finish does still come with a catch -- the same one that was attached to last week's second place at NESCACs. It meant another team came in ahead of the Jumbos, and that team was the Williams College Ephs. The Ephs controlled the meet, winning with 180 points, compared to the 'Bos second place score of 86 points. Third place Amherst was just edged out, finishing with 80 points, while Colby was a distant fourth place with 53 points.
A big reason for the team's success was senior tri-captain Jessica Trombly, who is now currently the best of New England's Div. III in the 100 and 400 meter hurdles. Trombly's time in the 400 (1:02.53) was national provisional qualifying time, while her time in the 100 (15.12) was a New England open qualifying time. She is .02 seconds away from a national provisional qualifying time in that event as well.
Trombly was not the only Jumbo to benefit from the 400 hurdles, as classmate Emily Bersin earned fourth place and a New England open qualifying time with a 1:04.36 finish, just .06 seconds away from a the national provisional qualifying time as well.
The Jumbo 4X400 relay team was the only other first place to be claimed for Tufts, but it did so with a national provisional qualifying time of 3:57.39. Tufts dominated this event, defeating the second place team from Williams by almost eight seconds.
The duo of sophomore Rebecca Ades and senior tri-captain Lauren Caputo were at it again in the 3000 meter steeplechase. This time around, it would be Ades however, to cross the line in second place (11:05.46), while Caputo took third (11:08.10). Both times were not only personal bests, but were also national provisional qualifying times as well.
"I wasn't expecting to do that well, but everything worked out in the right way," Ades said. There was a really strong girl [Shauneen Guarrahan of Amherst, 10:56.62] who paced the race and Lauren and I worked really well together throughout."
Caputo had already qualified at the State of Maine meet back in April, but she improved on her time of 11:14.62, and therefore improved her chances of being selected for national competition. Both Caputo and Ades will be running in the New England Opens next weekend, where they hope to improve upon their times, and break the 11-minute mark.
Also, competing in the heptathlon was junior Melissa Graveley, who placed third in the event with 3590 points, which was good enough to qualify her for the New England open meet.
Other New England Open qualifiers included freshman Sarah Crispin in the 1500 meter run, who took fourth place in the event in 4:43.36, knocking almost five seconds off her personal best time. Sophomore Rachel Bloom also took third place in the 200 dash (25.96), but her 25.65 time from last weekend's NESCAC Championships already had her qualified for the New England Open meet.
In the field events, senior Kate Gluckman had a season best throw in the discus, 39.62 meters, which was good enough for fourth place. She also took sixth place in the shot put with a 12.26 meter throw.
Up next for the team will be this weekend's New England Open meet. After that, individuals have two more chances, the ECAC championship meet and the Last Chance meet at MIT to qualify for the nationals, held at the end of May.
