It wasn't her best performance of the season, but sophomore Nakeisha Jones did enough to come in first in the triple jump, leading the women's track and field team to its best finish in the ECAC Championships since the 2006−07 season.
Tufts finished seventh overall at the meet, which was held at Smith College. With 43 teams in attendance, it marked the last chance to qualify for the NCAA Div. III Championships next weekend at DePauw University in Indiana.
Jones won the triple jump with a distance of 39 1/2, beating the next closest competitor, Williams freshman Tanasia Hoffler, by an inch and a half. Jones' winning mark met the NCAA automatic qualifying standard but was two inches shorter than that of her third−place finish at last weekend's All−New England Championships.
Senior co−captain Andrea Ferri took second in the pentathlon, losing to Ithaca College senior Lauren Koppel. Ferri's strong finish was highlighted by the top time in the 800 meter, 2:27.80, and a first place tie with Koppel in the long jump, with her 16−5 1/4 mark. Her 3,064−point total was an NCAA provisional qualifier and earned eight points for the Jumbos, though she also delivered a better performance last weekend, finishing with 3,128 points.
"Personally, I'm not pleased with the weekend," Ferri said. "I was trying to improve my NCAA mark; I was better in two of the portions of the pentathlon but did just OK or worse in the other three. The team went into the meet wanting to do better, but most of us didn't. There was more pressure at the ECACs because I was seeded first, which I think affected my performance."
Senior Logan Crane also qualified provisionally, besting the 7.29 second standard in the 55−meter dash for the first time this season. Her time of 7.28 seconds was good enough for fifth place, scoring four points for the team. Crane holds the Tufts record for the 55−meter dash (7.18), which she ran in the 2008 New England Div. III Championships. She also earned another point for Tufts from her eighth−place finish in the long jump, with a 17−foot 1 1/2−inch leap.
"Toward the end of the season we really started to taper, letting our bodies truly rest so we can have great performances in the end and get a lot out of it," Crane said. "Plus at the end you're working on your own performances and it takes the pressure off gaining points for the team."
Though no other members of the team met qualifying marks, other Jumbos had notable performances, as Tufts scored in 11 events. First year Kelly Allen came in fifth in the shot put with a distance of 40−6 3/4, and junior Andrea Caruth finished sixth in the 400−meter dash.
"It presents a lot of promise," said Crane of the strong performances by young Jumbos. "Especially with the Tufts track team, good performances get better every year and to see people so young and so new at college track and doing so well, it's really promising and shows they'll have good contributions across the board."
Caruth also contributed to the fifth−place finish of the 4x400 meter ‘A' relay team, which finished with a time of 4:04.18. Junior Amy Wilfert, who met the NCAA provisional qualifying mark last weekend with a mile time of 4:58.56, finished seventh at ECACs. She earned two points for her team despite finishing with a time that was a little over 10 seconds slower than her pace the week before.
"I ran the mile fresh last weekend, but this week I had already run the distance medley relay [with senior co−captain Kerry Virgien, junior Kaylee Maykranz and sophomore Kayley Pettoruto] and so I was tired. Overall, the whole team was just better last week. I think part of it was that there were Div. I and II runners that helped push everyone further," Wilfert said.
Tufts' final score of 39.5 points was just shy of Rowan University's sixth−place finish of 40 points, while Ithaca won the meet with an overall team score of 64.5. The Jumbos improved from their 10th−place finish at last year's ECAC meet.
Jones is the only Jumbo to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. She finished fourth in the triple jump at last year's NCAA Championships with a personal best of 39−3 1/4. Ferri, Crane, Wilfert and sophomore Heather Theiss in the pole vault are provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships and will find out today whether or not they will get the chance to travel with Jones to compete in next weekend's NCAA meet.
"This weekend had some ups and downs but I think overall everyone was pleased with the outcome," Virgien said. "In general, we have a really young team so we were all excited to see how we would progress this season. There are so many awesome freshmen, sophomores and juniors so next year's team should be great."
Regardless of whether or not she makes it individually, Crane is confident the Jumbos will be well represented at the year's biggest meet.
"I think they'll do great," she said. "I don't think Nakeisha was extremely happy with her performance or her position that she was in last year, so I think that's going to fire her up to do better this year. I think she'll go in with high expectations and she'll be able to represent Tufts well." Alex Prewitt contributed reporting to this article.
