Led by junior Catherine Beck, whose 4:53.45 mile broke her own Tufts record and launched her into the country's top spot in the event, the Jumbos placed third in their last home invitational of the season with a final score of 106.50. The squad finished just behind second-place UMass-Lowell, who scored 111.166. But it was Williams College that ran away with the Stampede, compiling a score of 210.
Beck's time automatically qualified her for Nationals, where she will also be competing in the 5k. And for coach Kristen Morwick, everything is going according to plan.
"We set it up to have her do these races, so she's training appropriately to run as fast as she is," Morwick said. "We were looking last week to get her some good competition for the 5k. She was a little surprised about how fast she went, but we weren't. For the mile, there was no college athlete who was going to push her, so we had her race two unattached runners. They went out hard, and Cat followed along and nearly won the race."
"It's a very exciting time in the season to be getting all this positive feedback and reinforcement of hard work," Beck added. "It reminds me that I need to focus and stay healthy and that we just need to get as many people qualified for as many things as possible."
In addition to Beck, several other Jumbos broke personal records. Senior Jessica Mactas recorded seventh place in the 55-meter dash with a 7.73 for her all-time best in the event, and sophomore Jackie Ferry posted a fourth-place 2:19.86 to break her personal record in the 800-meter run. In the 5k, sophomores Veronica Jackson and Betsy Aronson saw their best times at 19:27.64 and 19:52.60, respectively.
Junior Kaleigh Fitzpatrick passed her indoor-best in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.22, good for first place in the event. In addition, the 4x200 relay team, composed of Mactas, sophomore Aubrey Wasser, sophomore Halsey Stebbins, and freshman Andrea Ferri ran a season-best 1:47.67, ranking them first in New England. Finally, junior Sarah Martin placed third in the weight throw with a throw of 14.14 meters, breaking her own personal record, in addition to Tufts' record.
"I only broke the record by a few inches, but at the same time knowing that I'm able to surpass it and keep going on it was pretty cool," Martin said. "I kind of hope to keep pushing it and add a few more feet on, but we'll see how that comes out. I hope to just build arm strength and get up there."
Despite losing the meet, the team agrees that at this point in the season, it's important to face tough competition.
"It was good that we got to race against Williams and Amherst," senior Jenny Torpey said. "Williams is definitely our main NESCAC competition. They've been the No.1 in the NESCAC in track for the last several years, and it's always good to race against them and see how we compare."
"I think you always get more fired up when you know that you're up against some really tough competition," Beck added. "I think it's great to get those meets and get a chance to compete with high-caliber athletes. It pushes and motivates you to do your best and reminds you what you still need to accomplish."
Overall, the meet was a good one for a Jumbo team that has recently been plagued by illness and injury.
"We were kind of missing a lot of people, and we had a lot of people fighting sickness," Morwick said. "We've been feeling pretty beat-up, which is appropriate for this time of year, but the next two weeks will be about getting people rested and healthy and ready for New Englands."
Most notable was the absence of freshman Logan Crane, who has captured first place in the 55-meter dash in each of her last three competitions, and in the long jump in each of her last two. After running a 7.48 in the preliminaries for the 55-meter dash, Crane experienced muscle pain in her left hamstring, forcing her to leave the meet.
"We're just trying to be really careful with her," Morwick said. "There was no need in this meet to push through soreness. It would have been nice to see how she matched up against the Williams girls, but it wasn't worth potentially getting her injured so we just shut her down. She's adjusting to new kinds of training and some stretching that she's never done, so the muscles are sore."
"I have had pain in my hamstring for the last three weeks," Crane said in an e-mail to the Daily. "I was informed by a trainer that it was best if I took care of it this week in hopes that it will heal for the upcoming weekends. My goals for the next couple of weeks are really to improve my times and qualify for Nationals. I know it's in me, and I certainly had the times in high school to make it there, but it's just a matter of focusing, training, eating well, and making sure I treat my injury."
