Women's cross country continued its strong start to the season with a fourth-place finish at the Williams Purple Valley Classic. No. 6 Tufts was the only team at the meet that placed nine runners in the top 50 of the six-kilometer race.
The Jumbos finished with 125 points, 25 behind third place finisher No. 1 Williams. No. 2 SUNY Geneseo and No. 5 MIT rounded out the top two, with 65 and 71 points respectively. Along with Williams, those teams were the top three finishers at the national tournament last year. Tufts' top five runners placed 12, 15, 29, 34 and 35 out of 277 runners. Tufts outran No. 8 Middlebury, No. 11 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and No. 14 Ithaca, all teams that are ranked in the top 15 Women's cross country programs nationally.
Senior tri-captain Alice Wasserman ran the 6k in 23:16.8 and finished as the fourth runner for Tufts for the second straight week. Wasserman was excited about the team’s prospects going forward and by its chances to challenge the big name programs for a top-three place this year.
“We finished in fourth place to the three top finishing teams from nationals last year, and if we stay in this position, the podium is very reachable for us," Wasserman said. "We are going to keep on putting in hard workouts and strategizing to continue to excel in races and close the gap between a lot of our runners moving into the postseason.”
Wasserman credited the team's success to strong communication and innovative strategy during the race. The team started out at a moderate pace and then sped up throughout the race, using the racers in front as motivation to continue increasing speed. While the strategy has not been perfected yet, the team has continued to improve on it and hopes it will yield increasing returns as the season progresses.
"This week, we communicated really well. We were all vocal and supportive [of each other] for the entire race," said Wasserman. "Each race group had a strategy and for the most part, we were able to stick to the plan and execute strong races."
Junior Brittany Bowman was the Jumbos' first finisher on the day, with a time of 22:39.0. Senior Kelly Fahey crossed the finish line at 22:44.6 followed by sophomore Natalie Bettez and Wasserman. Just one second after Wasserman was senior Lindsay Atkeson who rounded out scoring for Tufts. Five Jumbo seniors placed within the top 50 at the meet, including tri-captain Samantha Cox (23:21.8) and Olivia Dehm (23:23.6).
Head coach Kristen Morwick felt that while the team improved from its previous start, the team could further improve its approach and eventually challenge the top three teams this season.
“We were much better than at Bates," Morwick said. "[We] raced a conservative but smart race … I think later in the season when we’re ready to be more aggressive in our approach, we will challenge those top three teams.”
Tufts is close to cracking the top three and the future looks good for the rest of the Jumbos as well, as they have a deep and talented squad behind their top runners. The middle of the team performed exceptionally. If Tufts' eighth through 12th best runners were a team, it would have outperformed NESCAC rival Colby. Among the underclassmen, first-year Gia Kim ran the third fastest time for a first-year on the course in Tufts history and finished 47th.
The Jumbos are optimistic heading into the rest of the season, but constant improvement remains the focus.
“[It was a] solid effort for our second race of the year, and we know we can improve," Morwick said.
The Jumbos compete next on Saturday at Lehigh University's Paul Short Invitational.
No. 6 Tufts outpaces competition en route to fourth place finish at Williams
