Despite outrunning both the Div. III season's best time and the meet record, a mark of 11:35.54 was not enough to secure a national championship for the women's distance medley relay team Friday at the 2007 NCAA Div. III Indoor Championships, held at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Jumbo squad, composed of senior tri-captain Sarah Crispin and juniors Cat Beck, Katy O'Brien, and Kaleigh Fitzpatrick, finished just behind top-seeded Wisconsin-Platteville's foursome of senior Marcia Taddy and sophomores Bobbi Arand, Emma Dreis, and Jessica Scott, whose time of 11:34.46 shattered the meet record of 11:41.66, set by Wartburg College in 2005.
The second-seeded Jumbos expected a tight race with Wisconsin-Platteville, whose automatic qualifying time of 11:40.45 was just over a second faster than Tufts' own. Tufts clocked in at 11:41.48, adjusted from the original qualifier, which was run on Boston University's speed-boosting banked track.
"We were back in fourth for almost the whole race," Beck said. "Platteville was kind of far behind, but they had some strong surges in the middle section. It finally came down to the last leg. I tried to put a move on Marcia Taddy, but she's just an incredible competitor. She punted it down and reeled me back in ... but we went after it, and we're really proud of what happened."
Although the race was close at the top, the Jumbos blew past the rest of the competition. Third-place finisher and league rival Amherst finished nearly 10 seconds behind the Jumbo squad, coming in at 11:44.91. Other NESCAC foes Williams and Bates placed within the top 10, finishing fifth and eighth, respectively.
"We're all really proud about how we did in the DMR," Beck said. "It was just a real team effort and it came together well. We went out there and gave it our all. The Platteville team was very, very strong. With the caliber of many of those teams, it's definitely great to know that you can run with the best of them and hold your own."
Saturday brought some frustration for the Tufts squad, as Beck again took the track, this time to race in the 5000-meter run. The Jumbos' lone representative in open competition this year, Beck entered as the event's top seed with an adjusted automatic qualifier of 16:45.53. With a time over 11 seconds faster than that of second-seeded SUNY Plattsburgh junior Toni Wiszowaty, Beck had her eye on the top spot.
Victory was simply not in the cards for Beck, however, as Wesleyan senior Ellen Davis captured first place, winning the race in 16:43.73. Davis crossed the finish line well ahead of the pack, followed by Amherst senior Shauneen Garrahan at 16:51.25, Wiszowaty at 16:55.56, and SUNY Geneseo sophomore Liz Montgomery at 16:56.75.
Beck checked in with a clip of 16:57.37, which earned her fifth place in the event. Though Beck's performance may not have been what she was hoping for, she far surpassed last year's 13th place showing; and with another year left in her college career, Beck will likely return in 2008 for another shot at a national title.
"I've done a two day double before and come back really well in my second race," Beck said. "I made some tactical errors, and there are definitely some things I want to try to dig deeper into to really understand what happened. I need to just refocus so that when I get to Nationals, I can pull together my very best race in that situation."
