The women's cross country team placed fourth at the NCAA Regional Championship meet on Saturday in Goreham, Maine, earning a bid for the National Championship for the first time since 2011.
Falling short of NESCAC rivals Williams and Middlebury, as well as MIT, the Jumbos' 134-point total placed the team fourth in the 53-team field.
"Going into the race we knew that we realistically could finish third, fourth or fifth," senior Molly Mirhashem said. "We wanted to make sure we got into the top five, because that's what we needed to secure a nationals bid."
Senior tri-captain Abby Barker finished first for Tufts, placing 12th overall with a time of 21:39. Sophomore Audrey Gould was right on her heels, finishing 13th with a time of 21:40. Crossing the line next for the Jumbos was sophomore Olivia Beltrani, who finished 19th overall with a time of 21:50. Senior tri-captain Lauren Creath along with Mirhashem rounded out the scoring for the Jumbos, placing 42th and 48th, with times of 22:23 and 22:32, respectively.
"Going into a race like Regionals, there's a lot of pressure," Mirhashem said. "If we didn't qualify, it would've been my last race ever, so I knew I needed to give it everything I had, and that's what I did."
Some of the team's success can be linked to strong encouragement from supporters at the meet. The large group of students that made the trip from Tufts to Gorham served as inspiration for the runners.
"They were an amazing source of energy," Mirhashem said. "No other team had a support network like that. It contributed significantly to us doing so well."
With Williams and Middlebury earning the two automatic NCAA Championship bids from the region, the Jumbos had to wait until Sunday to find out whether they would be returning to the meet. The team received the good news on Sunday, having been awarded one of the 16 at-large bids given out nationwide. Brandeis and MIT were also awarded at-large bids.
The team finished behind MIT, missing third place by just seven points.
"Coming in only seven points behind the No. 4-ranked MIT will definitely only incentivize us more for this upcoming weekend," Beltrani said.
"We're definitely hungry to take down MIT," Mirhashem added. "They didn't beat us by much, and we haven't had our best race yet."
The NCAA Championship meet will take place on Saturday in Hanover, Ind. For the Jumbos, the team goal is to give the race everything they've got.
"For Nationals, I'd like to continue racing alongside my teammates and demonstrate that Tufts is a formidable component that moves as a pack" Beltrani said. "I want to have nothing left at the end and to know that regardless of my finish, I can walk, or hobble, away knowing that I gave it my all for the last race of the season."
In 2011, the last time the Tufts raced as a team at the NCAA Championships, the Jumbos placed 20th. Senior Laura Peterson, along with Creath and Barker, competed that year. In 2012, Gould competed individually at the meet.
For Beltrani, Mirhashem and freshman Lindsay Atkeson, this will be their first experience running in a championship meet.
"[Peterson, Creath and Barker] will provide huge benefits both for the team as a whole and each one of us individually," Beltrani said. "Having already raced at this level, they will be more aware of what to expect both before and during the race in terms of atmosphere and pace. Having this many runners already familiar with the Nationals scene will certainly reduce any anxiety on the team."
Although the team will enter the championships as underdogs, they are confident they can compete with the best of the nation.
"I still don't think that we've run our best race yet," Mirhashem said.
