The women’s cross country team’s season came to a close in cold and windy Louisville, Ky. at the NCAA Div. III National Championships on Saturday. Tufts placed eighth overall, a slight decline from its seventh place finish last year. The program, however, improved on its 16th-place finish in 2014 and its 13th-place finish in 2013. The last time Tufts placed higher than it did last season was in 2006, when the team took fifth.
"I think overall, our team can be extremely proud of how we performed this season," coach Kristen Morwick said. "Despite a slow start, we had great NESCAC and New England Regional NCAA meets and we were good at NCAAs ... just not great."
Tufts finished with 320 points, just under 90 points more than regional rivals Williams and MIT. Williams placed fourth overall with 232 points, while MIT finished in fifth place with 234. The individual winner of the race was senior Amy Regan from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. She finished with a time of 20:16.4, almost 15 seconds faster than any other runner.
Tufts' first finisher, junior Brittany Bowman, placed 18th overall with a time of 21:05.7. She received All-American honors for her performance to go with her New England Athlete of the Year award from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. She vastly improved on her 82nd place finish at the NCAA National Championship last season. Bowman was narrowly able to beat out junior Jamie Lord from the Rochester Polytechnic Institute, who finished two tenths of a second behind her.
Bowman captured the top spot at the NCAA Regionals two weekends ago and raced almost ten seconds faster this weekend than she did at Regionals. However, sophomore Abigail Nadler from Middlebury and first-year Megan McCandless from MIT, both of whom Bowman outraced at Regionals, finished ahead of Bowman in the rematch.Nadler ended up finishing 15th overall, and McCandless ended up finishing in 17th place. McCandless crossed less than a second ahead of Bowman, despite Bowman setting a personal best and school record.
In second place for the Jumbos was senior Kelly Fahey who finished in 76th place overall with a time of 21:46.2. Fahey ran a 22:38.6 at Nationals last season, improving by nearly a minute in her senior season.
Finishing 17 seconds after Fahey and in 115th place was sophomore Natalie Bettez with a time of 22:03.2. Senior Lindsay Atkeson scored fourth for the Jumbos and was ten seconds behind Bettez, finishing in 140th place with a time of 22:13.1. Rounding out the top five for the Jumbos was her classmate, senior tri-captain Sam Cox, who finished with a time of 22:16.0 for 145th place.
Also competing for the Jumbos were senior tri-captain Alice Wasserman who finished 173rd and sophomore Kelsey Tierney who placed inside the top-200 at 199. Wasserman dropped in the standings from her junior season when she finished 84th at Nationals.
"For me personally, my race was rather rough. The race went out a lot harder than I expected, but I feel like I held on and had a good kick at the end," Wasserman said. "The race environment is a lot more different at nationals than at any other race, and I wish I prepared better for it mentally, but I know I left it all out on the course."
Wasserman felt that the team gave the race its all, but wished they could have done better.
"I thought we gave it all we had, despite it being a rather rough day. I think everyone gave it all we got, and while a lot of us performed well, I think we all hoped for a better finish," she said. "It is difficult to predict how nationals shakes out, but I think we gave it a really hard effort as a team."
Coach Morwick felt that the team is in a good place heading into next year. She noted that Tufts is returning three of its top five runners next season -- Bowman, Bettez and Tierney -- and that the incoming first-years will also contribute. She also thanked her graduating class and talked about how proud she was of them.
"The great leadership of our three captains, Sam Cox, Sarah Corning and Alice Wasserman, as well as our other seniors [Fahey, Atkeson, Olivia Dehm and Meredith Reynolds] made this year so much fun," Morwick said. "They have worked exceptionally hard over the last four years and have shaped this team, who will have high expectations moving forward due in large part to the example these seven seniors have set for the underclasswomen. I'm so proud of this group of young women and feel so fortunate to have coached them this year."
Jumbos place 8th at National Championships
