Returning to campus after a short winter break, Tufts has already turned in a pair of strong performances in 2017. The team won seven events at the non-scoring Tufts Invitational on Jan. 14, where several first-years made impressive debuts, and then took third out of five at the Bowdoin Invitational on Saturday.
Junior Brittany Bowman added a second national top ten time to her resume this season with a 5:06.75 first-place performance in the mile at Bowdoin. That time won her the race and ranks her ninth among all Div. III competitors so far this year. Bowman's 17:18.88 time in the 5,000 meters from the season opener at Boston University on Dec. 3 still holds the No. 4 spot among all Div. III runners nationally.
Junior Olivia Nicholson and first-year Haley Barthel joined Bowman as one of the top 35 in the nation in the 5k on Saturday, posting times of 18:27.95 and 18:29.62, respectively, which ranks them at 31st and 34th in the nation. Senior Kelly Fahey also holds the No. 16 spot in the nation after running an 18:01.26 5k at the BU opener.
Tufts' first-year class made some major contributions at the Bowdoin Invitational, with first-year Rhemi Toth winning the 600 meters with a time of 1:41.81, fellow first-year Lauren Diaz placing fourth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:23.02 and classmate Julia Gake taking second in the 400 meters with a 1:00.94 mark. Despite it being early in the season, many of the first-year athletes competing for the Jumbos have stepped up to the challenge, and the strength of the first-year class will be crucial for the Jumbos as they strive to continue their success after a third-place finish at the NESCAC Championships last year.
“Our goals are the same as they’ve always been, and that is to be within the top three teams at Div. IIIs, our championship,” senior quad-captain Sam Cox said. “It’s a team in transition right now. [While] in the past ... we have really relied on upperclassmen scorers, it’s gonna be more spread out now and we are gonna have to hold ourselves more accountable.”
The highlight of the day for the Tufts field events was a competitive third-place finish from junior Jennifer Sherwill in the shot put, where she threw a 10.84 meter best.
Tufts' 101 points earned the team third place as they came in behind Southern Maine with 113 points and MIT, which dominated with 239 points.
At the Tufts Invitational on Jan. 14, the Jumbos featured a mix of strong showings from the senior captains and other veteran returners and impressive debuts from many of the first-years. In the 4x400 meter relay, the Tufts team of senior quad-captain Rita Donohoe, Gake, senior quad-captain Hannah Loss and first-year Nehale Kunkle-Read won the race with a time of 4:06.47, which at the time ranked sixth in the nation.
Donohoe excelled in her individual events as well, winning the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.29 seconds and placing second in the 200 meters with a time of 27.06.
Toth and fellow first-year Jennifer Jackson led the Jumbo rookies in their debut as Toth won the 800 with a time of 2:28.24 and Jackson won the 5,000 meters with a 19:54.72 mark. Gake also took second in the 600 meters in 1:38.83.
Though it is too early in the season to know whether the Jumbos' high nationally-ranked marks will hold and qualify them for postseason action, the early success, especially from first-years, is a promising sign. As Bowman noted, posting strong times early takes much of the pressure off of the Jumbos.
“So [meeting the postseason cut] enables us to focus on training and getting good workouts without worrying about having to race often in the beginning of the season,” Bowman said.
The Jumbos are now preparing to host the Tufts Stampede Invitational this Friday and Saturday at the Gantcher Center, where they look to build upon their early success and post more nationally-ranked marks.
Women's track adds more nationally-ranked times in early season action
