Tufts runners dominate Bowdoin Invitational

The women’s cross country team began its season on Saturday with a dominant victory at the Bowdoin Invitational, hosted by Bowdoin College. Although there were only four other schools in the race, the Jumbos took 21 of the top 23 spots to score an impressive victory over NESCAC-rival Bowdoin.

The five kilometer course was fast and flat, looping around several fields and woodsy trails. The atmosphere was electric -- the entire course was congested with fans screaming for their teams.

The Jumbos raced aggressively from the start, and by 600 meters in the only colors that could be seen were brown and blue. Junior captain Audrey Gould, junior Olivia Beltrani and sophomore Kelly Fahey separated from the main pack early and never looked back. Gould earned the resounding victory (the second cross country victory of her career) with a time of 18:06.90, while Beltrani placed second with a time of 18:27.20. Fahey kicked home hard for third overall in a time of 18:41.29.

“As a team, we wanted to race hard from the start,” Fahey said. “We knew from the start that it was our race to win, so we wanted to go out strong to see what we could do and see who we should be training with.”

The women did indeed go out strong, as their entire team went out between 5:40 and 6:13 for the first mile.

After Fahey, a strong contingent of underclassmen crossed the finish line tightly bunched, as sophomore Lindsey Atkeson, freshman Prudence Sax, sophomore Alice Wasserman, and freshman Brittany Bowman went four through seven, respectively, for the Jumbos to clinch the sweep.

“The freshmen are definitely strong in numbers and ability, as two of us placed in the top seven for the team this past weekend,” Sax said. “We’re definitely excited to contribute to the team.”

Sax said that the experience of racing in a college cross country meet was unique for her, as it was for all of head-coach Kristen Morwick’s 13 freshmen.

“I never ran cross country in high school, so the experience was completely new to me," Sax said. "The returning runners guided us freshmen through the whole process and were extremely supportive, making the transition easy for all of us.”

Tufts was able to place all 31 of its runners in the top 38 of the race; from the get-go, there really was no challenging them.

“Recently, we’ve been doing a lot of workouts in the Middlesex Fells to get us ready for meets like this, especially on hills,” Fahey said. “We’re still training hard from our summer base and keeping the workload challenging.”

Tufts, the nation's No. 16 team, showed that there was a significant gap between it and Bowdoin, as most of Tufts' runners would be part of Bowdoin's top seven.

“I think it bodes well for us that we beat Bowdoin, as it was a huge confidence booster for our next meet at Williams against other NESCAC teams,” Fahey said.

While the present looks bright, the future may well look brighter for the Jumbos, as eight of their top ten runners on the day were underclassmen.

“We have 13 freshmen girls on the team this year, which is almost half of our team,” Fahey said. “They’ve been very consistent in workouts so far and will be a huge asset both this year and in the years to come. I’m really excited to see what they all can contribute.”

The Jumbos will be taking a week off before heading west to Williams College for the annual Purple Valley Classic on Sept. 27.