Women's cross country continues strong form with third-place finish at Purple Valley Classic

Disclaimer: Madeleine Oliver is a staff photographer for the Daily. She was not involved in the writing of this article.

The Jumbos competed in the Purple Valley Classic on Saturday in Williamstown, Mass., where they built upon last week's first-place finish with more success, as they came in third place out of the 13 teams running at the event.

In the 6,000-meter race, senior co-captain Natalie Bettez continued her great form and took first place in the 129-runner field for the second week in a row. Bettez clocked a time of 22:06.9, out-pacing the second-place runner, Coast Guard sophomore Kaitlyn Mooney, by 9.8 seconds.With her first-place finish, Bettez was named NESCAC Women’s Cross Country Performer of the Week, the second time she has won the honor in her career. Last year, Bettez placed sixth at the NESCAC Championships and was named to the All-NESCAC First Team.

“Being NESCAC cross country performer of the week is a nice honor and it was definitely an exciting race,” Bettez said. "Last weekend was a really great race for a lot of people on our team, and it was exciting to see that we could hold our own against other NESCAC teams that we will be competing against later in the season.”

Bettez’s strategy has been key in her recent successes.

“I usually aim to go out and listen to how I feel and then increase my pace later on in the race if I am feeling good,” Bettez said. “I am more of a long-distance runner, so I prefer to start out conservative and get faster as the race goes on. I try and remember that everyone is just as tired as I am and that racing is both a test of how strong you are mentally and physically. Just being confident and focusing on passing people can go a long way.”

Senior Julia Noble, who posted a time of 23:37.8 for a 16th-place finish, said she was happy to see progress in her performance.

“It was extremely rewarding to see my training pay off during the race, and I am thrilled to be making major progress,” Noble said. “Last year I was unable to race at the [Purple Valley Classic] due to an injury, so I am more than happy to be back racing and feeling great.”

First-year Danielle Page (23:37.7) was the third Jumbo to cross the line, finishing 21st, and was followed by fellow first-year Anna Slager (24:02.5), who finished 37th overall. The last three Jumbos to finish the race were senior co-captain Caitlin Porrazzo (24:06.6) in 39th, junior Jennifer Jackson (24:26.3) in 48th and sophomore Melissa Rowland (24:33.4) in 55th.

Tufts finished with a team score of 114 and a cumulative time of 1:57.215. The team lost out only to MIT (67) and Williams (81), and finished in third place.

Tufts runners also competed in the 5,000-meter event. Sophomore Johanna Ross led the way for the Jumbos, finishing with a time of 20:56.7 to score six points. Right behind her was first-year Lucy Tumavicus, who recorded a time of 20:58.6 for eight points. First-years Alex Walter (21:34.0) and Heidy Acevedo (21:42.5), along with sophomore Emily Murray (22:03.5), all placed within the Top 25, finishing 16th, 20th and 25th, respectively. Sophomore Madeleine Oliver rounded out the scoring for the Jumbos with a time of 23:07.0.

Noble was proud of the team's accomplishments in the young season.

“The team is doing very well and is on track to [have] a great season,” she said. “Although we had a few fast seniors graduate last year, we are just as strong of a team, if not stronger. We have some talented [first-years] that have been great additions to the team, and many of our returning runners have significantly improved since last year. Some great performances from [new and veteran runners] alike have allowed us to do well at our first couple of meets. Overall, the team has a positive vibe going, and we are very optimistic for our future meets.”

Tufts will compete next at the Bowdoin Invitational on Sept. 29. Based on the Jumbos' performances thus far, Noble is optimistic about their chances at the meet.

“We did not race everyone last weekend, so we will have a lot of fresh legs racing at Bowdoin,” she said. "It will be our first time racing at Bowdoin, and much of the team is excited to use their speed on Bowdoin’s flat course. I expect to see a lot of fast times and further improvements from my teammates.”