For the second-straight year, the distance medley relay (DMR) squad of the women's track and field team is a national champion.
The group, consisting of sophomore Amy Wilfert in the 1,200-meter leadoff leg, senior Halsey Stebbins in the 400, senior tri-captain Jackie Ferry in the 800 and sophomore Stephanie McNamara in the mile-long anchor stint, won the race in 11:46.88 at last weekend's NCAA Div. III Championships at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, just ahead of the runner-up St. Thomas foursome of juniors Erin Sprangers, Nikki Arola and Kelly Russ and senior Katie Theisen, which came in less than a tenth of a second later at 11:46.96.
"It's kind of indescribable," Ferry said. "When Steph first crossed the finish line, we weren't positive we had won …When the officials told us that we were No. 1, it was just a surge of emotions in all of us. We all started crying and got so excited.
"When we walked up to the top of the podium, there's nothing like that – having our trophies handed to us by [coach Kristen Morwick], knowing we're No. 1 in the nation. We not only won Nationals, we had the fastest time in the country for the season … It was just an amazing experience."
Despite the unexpectedly fast pace taken by the leadoff group, Wilfert was able to keep the Jumbos in solid position, with Stebbins and Ferry running personal best times in their respective legs to give the Jumbos leeway.
"It was really messy," Morwick said. "There was a lot of jockeying for position. Amy had to run a lot of it in lane two and three … in this instance, everybody was there, and the people that were dropping back were boxing in the people who should have been in the front. It was just a tricky race — I give her a lot of credit for keeping her composure. Even if it wasn't ideal, she got it done."
Still, when McNamara received the baton, she was chasing the backs of five competitors. But the now-six-time All-American steadily worked herself up right behind the leader Theisen, and when the bell signifying the final lap sounded, McNamara made her move, taking the lead from Theisen and holding on to edge her at the finish line.
"It was hard to move up initially, but once you got up, everyone was so clustered that if you made one move, you passed three people," McNamara said. "All I had to do was make one strategic move, and I was in second place … From there, I just had to stay relaxed until the last lap and put down as fast a split as I could."
"It's crucial to have a solid anchor leg," Ferry added. "Steph is the best miler out there, hands down, and so if we didn't have that, there's no way we would have won. Steph was able to kick an extremely good runner in [Theisen] … Obviously, the miler was huge."
The DMR championship marks the second straight for Tufts and for McNamara, who joined up with Katy O'Brien (E '08) and tri-captains Cat Beck (LA '08) and Kaleigh Fitzpatrick (LA '08) last season to bring home a victory in 11:46.79. Wilfert, Stebbins and Ferry each additionally earned their first All-American honors en route to the team's 15th national championship in an individual or relay event.
McNamara followed up with another stellar performance Saturday, taking second place in the 5,000-meter run with a 17:02.76 clip to improve her seed time of 17:26.91, which had her slotted at No. 13 going into the race, by over 24 seconds. After running a hard mile the previous night with the DMR, McNamara fell only to familiar NESCAC foe Elise Tropiano, who posted a 16:58.84. Running on fresh legs, the Amherst senior tri-captain was determined to take home a title after a runner-up showing at cross country Nationals in November and ran a strategic race accordingly, avoiding McNamara's strength as a mile runner.
"I think if Elise had waited until the last lap to take it, it would have been anyone's race, but Elise with 800 [meters] left just put the hammer down," Morwick said.
"I just stayed as comfortable as possible, and when she made a move, I tried to recover it," McNamara said. "I don't think I had as much in my legs as I thought I did, but I was happy that I was able to run a really good time despite being tired from the DMR. It was a PR for me and the highest-placing [individual] finish of my career so far."
Saturday also saw the first All-American performance for freshman jumper Nakeisha Jones, who joined classmate Dayorsha Collins as Tufts' first field event specialists to compete at the national level since 2004. Jones, entering the meet ranked second after holding the best mark in Div. III for much of the season, finished fourth overall. While Jones surpassed her personal best — a performance that qualified her automatically for Nationals in just her third-ever collegiate meet — in the preliminaries, going 39'3 1/4", three others went beyond it in the final round.
While Collins was the only Jumbo representative not to score, her 5'1 1/4" mark in the high jump was good for 11th place in the event and capped off an exceptional first season.
"Some of the key things are that it was their first time ever and they're freshmen and they were both really nervous," Morwick said of Jones and Collins. "I think now, they have a sense of what the whole meet is like … It was a great experience for them. They had a lot of fun, and they were great. I think they both wish they could have done better, but it will leave them hungry for the next time."
Tufts earned fifth place overall, delivering the best showing from any team in the Northeast and the best finish under Morwick to date. Williams, which took the regional title earlier this season, placed a distant 48th.
"We were fifth in the entire nation," Ferry said. "It goes to show we have the talent. [It's unfortunate] that we didn't put it together at New Englands, but we would rather do it at Nationals."
