After a blowout win at Sept. 6's Trinity Invitational behind Stephanie McNamara's first-place finish, Tufts once again relied on the sophomore who locked up first place Saturday, as the women's cross country team smoked the competition at the annual Jumbo Invitational.
Tufts more than held its own at its only home meet of the season on the Tufts Veterinary School's campus in Grafton, Mass., tallying 37 points — 33 points lower than runner-up Conn. College — and placing four runners in the top 10. McNamara's own mark, a 19:24.39 on the 5k Farm Course, paced the field by 25 seconds.
While McNamara ran a solid time, a comparatively weak field may have been to her detriment. Most notably missing from the Bowdoin lineup was 2007 NESCAC Rookie of the Year Yasmine White, who decided not to run cross country this season.
"[McNamara] didn't end up having a ton of competition, which was too bad," coach Kristin Morwick said. "The last two weeks, she could have run faster. Steph hasn't raced the top kids in the conference yet and probably won't see anyone until the All-New England Championships at Franklin Park [in Boston], which are just under a month away."
Following up her performance at Trinity, sophomore Amy Wilfert again placed second for the Jumbos, clocking a 19:58.83. The time was good for third overall, with Wilfert less than 10 seconds behind Bowdoin senior co-captain Annie Monjar, who captured second place.
"Grafton is a very challenging course," Wilfert said. "There are a lot of hills that can sneak up on you, so you have to be careful not to go out too hard the first mile. You obviously want to stay with the lead pack but try not to blow past too quickly — just be patient and move up later in the race."
After steadily improving over the course of her freshman campaign, Wilfert has seamlessly moved into the No. 2 spot for Tufts this season.
"Amy came in last season and hadn't done much running over the summer, so I think she's a ton more fit than she was a year ago," Morwick said. "She was one of the top distance recruits that we've had, and I think over the course of last year, she finally got herself back into shape. I think she was really burned out from high school — she did way too much racing.
"She's definitely in a much better place, and she's where she should be," Morwick continued. "I think maybe at some point, she'll be running a lot closer to Steph. Her attitude is awesome — she's running great workouts, and I think it's only going to get better for her. I'm really psyched with how well she's improved."
Leading a thus-far impressive freshman class was Anya Price (20:23.24), who finished third for the Jumbos and seventh overall. Senior Amy Hopkins (20:35.25) and junior Lisa Picasia (21:05.13) rounded out the scoring for Tufts, taking ninth and 17th, respectively.
"The freshmen are doing excellent right now," Wilfert said. "There are definitely a few frontrunners, but they're very close and they all have a lot of potential, so they should be showing us a lot in the next few weeks."
"There's a whole pack of them that I think we are still adjusting to training and not knowing the courses," Morwick said. "Some of them didn't run on a lot of hills in high school, and our past two courses were really hilly. It's a huge class, and they're working hard and have great attitudes. I think by the end of the season, you'll probably see even more from that group of girls."
While the team was pleased with its efforts, there are some aspects of its racing that could still use some fine-tuning. One item on the agenda is the Jumbos' pack running strategy, which suffered this week due to illness and injury that sidelined some of their No. 6 and No. 7 candidates.
"I think there are gaps that we need to address," Morwick said. "One through four looks pretty good — there's a little drop off after four, and a big drop after five — that's really where we need to make the improvement ... We had a few people not race or drop out that will be in there in the next few weeks, and that could help address the gap, but that's something we're going to need improvement on."
"We're definitely still going to be working on pack running," Wilfert said. "[Morwick] really wants to work on that next weekend. I think all of the freshmen may run the JV race so they can start working together and getting used to pack running."
Next up for the Jumbos is Saturday's UMass-Dartmouth Invitational, which features a flat, fast 5k course. Morwick said she expects to rest many of her top runners in preparation for the Conn. College Invitational Sept. 27, which will be the team's first 6k competition of the season.
