Women’s cross country finished strong last weekend at the James Earley Invitational, placing second out of 41 total teams at the five-kilometer race. The Jumbos finished high despite resting many of their best runners, those who ran in last week’s Paul Short Invitational. Because of the nature of collegiate cross country competitions, runners — especially top performers — occasionally rest from week to week.
No. 13 Tufts finished with 84 points, close on the heels of the first place finisher, the University of New England, which completed the race with 65 points. There was a large gap between the first two places and the remainder of the field. Following Tufts was third placed Keene State College with 208 points overall.
Tufts outran divisional rivals No. 3 Williams and Colby. The Ephs placed seventh and the Jumbos beat them by 188 points, outracing them by six minutes total. Tufts also outperformed NESCAC rival Colby College, which placed 18th in the race with 506 points.
Sophomore Kelsey Tierney led the Jumbos and finished fourth out of over 459 runners with a time of 22:09.55. Coach Kristen Morwick was impressed by Tierney's performance. Tierney finished faster than Tufts' previous top long distance runner Audrey Gould (LA '16) did, who ran 22:12.61 on the course as a first-year.
Junior Olivia Nicholson was Tufts' second scorer and the 12th finisher overall with a time of 22:41.43. Finishing with her was senior tri-captain Samantha Cox, whose time of 22:42.07 ranked 13th. Junior Danielle Skufca placed 24th and ran the five-kilometer race in 23:19.59.
Although only the next three Jumbos placed in the race, the following four Jumbos finished on each others' heels, illustrating the team's commitment to pack running. Junior Eliza Lawless scored for Tufts at 32nd overall with a time of 23:28.94. Finishing two seconds after her was sophomore Julia Noble, who snagged 34th. First-year Haley Barthel rounded out the scoring for the Jumbos as their seventh place runner with a 35th place finish overall and a time of 23:31.65, finishing mere hundredths of a second behind Noble and Lawless. Sophomore Sarah Perkins placed 36th and came in close behind the aforementioned runners with a time of 23:31.00.
"Considering we didn't race our top 8 runners, there were a lot of people who filled in the front pack of the race and had breakthrough races that really prove the depth that we have on our team," senior Sarah Corning told the Daily in an electronic message.
The remaining Jumbos finished as follows: first-years Nicole Kerrigan and Lauren Diaz finished 39th and 43rd at 23:32.74 and 23:50.35, respectively, and junior Evelyn Heffernan came in 47th place at 23:41.52. Sophomore Caitlin Porrazo placed 53rd overall with a time of 21:01.43, Corning placed 59th overall with a time of 24:04.65, sophomore Olivia Barnett placed 63rd overall with a time of 24:08.64, first-year Cecelia Rosenman placed 64th with a time of 24:09.15, junior Franchesca Burgos placed 77th with a time of 24:23.63, first-year Emma Ishida placed 83rd with a time of 24:25.92. Rounding out the team, first-year Remi Toth placed 87th with a time of 24:29.86, junior Sara Stokesbury placed 94th with a time of 24:37.48, sophomore Jennifer Jackson placed 121st at 25:02.78 and first-year Fernanda Brena was 204th, finishing at 25:56.47.
“I thought the race went really well. I would say the majority of the kids on our team ran a personal best," Morwick said. "It was an awesome performance for us. [Especially] considering the team that beat us ran their top group and we held out eight of our runners and filled out a close second."
Coming up next for the Jumbos is the Connecticut College Invitational on Oct. 15, where the Jumbos came in second last year.
Jumbos demonstrate depth at James Earley Invitational
