"Your first track race is nerve-wracking -- it's a totally different terrain [than cross country]," said sophomore Stephanie McNamara, who led the women's track and field team in its first meet of the season two weeks after earning All-American honors at cross country Nationals.
So much for an adjustment period.
McNamara wasted no time before beginning to make arrangements for her next trip to Nationals, hitting the NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the 5,000-meter event at Saturday's Husky Winter Carnival, hosted by Northeastern University, with a time of 17:23.61.
"After cross country ended, the option I kind of give the distance kids is if you want to do a very light maintenance program and run the first week, that's fine, but only if you're not overtired or [injured]," coach Kristen Morwick said. "She was feeling good, and we figured we'd make the most of the cross country peak and give her a shot at the 5k."
McNamara was the runner-up in the race, finishing behind only Sara Donahue of the Greater Boston Track Club. While Donahue crossed the line well ahead of McNamara, running a 16:51.04 and hustling to a lead upwards of 30 seconds, McNamara kept up for much of the race.
"They were both lapping the field a lot and spending a lot of time in lanes two and three on a banked track, which is really kind of tough," Morwick said. "She really only had a couple bad laps where she fell off the pace a little bit, but she was able to come back at the end and keep it together."
"I had someone to shoot for, and while she ran an amazing time and pretty much ran away with it, I still had her for the first mile or two," McNamara said. "I felt really lucky to be able to run behind someone like that."
With much of the team sitting out the first competition, for the rest of the Jumbos, the meet was more about assessing their fitness levels to start the season.
"People are just starting to condition for the most part," McNamara said. "It's a trial just to go out and see what kind of shape you're in and what you want to focus on."
For Tufts, the results were promising, as the team saw several strong performances and a number of impressive debuts. Among them was that of freshman Dayorsha Collins, who narrowly missed the provisional mark in the high jump with a showing of 1.62 meters.
"We hadn't done a lot of jumping, just mostly training and some really easy technique stuff," Morwick said. "We really only put her approach together on Thursday -- that's two days before the meet ... She is going to be so good. If you look at the quality of the performances over the weekend, she was outstanding."
Freshman Shantal Richards also looked good in her first meet for Tufts, posting a 4.79-meter long jump after kicking her foot back on a landing cost her close to a foot and a half. Her mark left her in 22nd place, just behind junior Logan Crane, who came in 15th.
"She just has a natural ability," Crane said of Richards. "She's going to do phenomenally in the long jump -- I have great hopes for her. We just have to keep working on it -- both of us have to."
Crane herself was also busy on the track, running her fastest time ever to start the season in the preliminaries for the 55-meter dash. Unfortunately for Crane, her time was bested by a number of Div. I athletes that edged her for spots in the final race.
Senior Halsey Stebbins also delivered, running a 27.25 for 27th in the 200-meter dash and posting the fastest split in the 4x400-meter relay.
"I was pleased with the performances of the upperclassmen," Morwick said. "I thought Halsey ran a great 200. When they get deeper into the heats of the 200, they don't allow blocks, so she's basically doing that from a standing start."
While the meet's results may not have been a representation of the team as a whole, Morwick was pleased with her team's opening performance.
"It's the first meet after training since September, so there are a lot of things to shake out and it's never going to be perfect," she said. "I thought overall it was a really good first meet, and I was really happy with how well we did ... Hopefully that will give them an inspiration to train over break."
