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Teams: Women's Track & Field: Team
Overview
 With outstanding talent, superior facilities and a rich
tradition, the Tufts University womens track & field program is one
of New Englands best regardless of division. Now in her ninth
season as head coach, Kristen Morwick guides a program that annually
adds to the long list of athletic and academic achievements compiled
by the team since its inception in 1976.
Last year at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Tufts distance
medley relay of Stephanie McNamara, Kaleigh Fitzpatrick, Katy
OBrien and Cat Beck won the NCAA Division III championship and led
the Jumbos to a sixth-place team finish. (The DMR was Tufts' first
relay National Champion). Tufts also won its first-ever New England
indoor team title. Beck was selected as the United States Track &
Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) New England
Indoor Athlete of the Year for the third season and Morwick was
Indoor Coach of the Year. At the NCAA Outdoor meet, Beck was
runner-up in the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters to finish her Tufts
career with eleven All-American awards.
Tufts teams have long been well represented at NCAA championship
meets. Including the 2008 DMR, the program has now produced 11
national champions and numerous All-Americans. Sprint and jumps
standout Vera Stenhouse won eight national championships from
1989-91. Caitlin Murphy won back-to-back indoor 800 meters national
championships in 1999-2000. In spring 2004, Jessica Trombly won the
400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
As members of the NESCAC, Tufts is part of the nation's most
competitive small college conference academically and athletically.
Tufts also competes against other top New England Division III
programs. The ECAC Championships on the schedule offers competition
from outside New England, while the New England Open Championships
include Division I, II, and III opponents.
The NESCAC is a group of highly selective liberal arts colleges
and universities that share an academics-first philosophy for
intercollegiate athletics. The Tufts program has matched its
competitive success with academic achievement. Five Jumbos were
named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team in 2008 and 13 team members
were named to the 2007-08 NESCAC All-Academic teams.
Located right outside of Boston, Tufts offers a well-rounded
collegiate experience to student-athletes. Within its picturesque
small-college campus, Tufts is a major university with "an
unprecedented diversity of programs, exceptional faculty and staff,
and bright and talented students," according to President Lawrence
S. Bacow. The Athletics Department sponsors a varsity program of 28
sports that is among the most competitive in the NCAA's Division
III. Tufts finished 15th in the 2008 U.S. Sports Academy Directors'
Cup, the award presented annually to the best overall collegiate
athletics programs in the country. The University's proximity to a
world-class city renowned for its academic institutions is also a
major draw.
Tufts competes and trains at outstanding facilities for both the
indoor and outdoor seasons. The Gantcher Family Sports and
Convocation Center opened in November 1999 and is one of the
countrys finest indoor facilities. The Clarence Ding Dussault
outdoor complex, named for the Tufts coaching legend, is one of the
top outdoor ovals in New England. The teams cross country course in
Grafton, Mass., home of the Tufts Veterinary School, has hosted
several recent regional championship races.
A 1988 graduate of Dartmouth College, Morwick was previously the
head coach of cross country/track & field at Williams College. At
Dartmouth, Morwick competed in the multi-events and held the high
jump record for several years. She was also a member of basketball
team. She began her coaching career at Tufts as an assistant under
Branwen Smith-King. Hired at Williams in 1996, Morwick's cross
country teams there qualified for the NCAA national championship
race from 1996-99 and twice she was named New England Coach of the
Year. At Tufts, she was selected NCAA New England Indoor Coach of
the Year in 2004, 2005 and 2008.
McNamara, an All-American in all three seasons during her first
year at Tufts, heads a new group of leaders for the program in
2008-09. New England Div. III 55m, 100m and long jump champ Logan
Crane returns in track & field and will head a strong freshman class
in the sprints and jumps. Senior captains Paula Dormon (throws) and
Jackie Ferri (mid-distance), along with fellow senior Halsey
Stebbins and junior Andrea Ferri (sprints), should contribute in
numerous events. Sophomores Allison Fechter (pole vault), Kanku
Kabongo (jumps), Andrea Caruth (long sprints and hurdles) and Sarah
Nolet (multi-events) return as all-New England performers, having
made their mark as first-years last season.
Field events coach Lisa Wallin will again assist Morwick this
year. She was an NCAA qualifier at Wheaton. New members of the
coaching staff are Chris Combs (pole vault) and Caitlin Malloy
(mid-distance/distance). Combs is the former coach of U.S. and
Olympic trials qualifier Mike Drummey. Malloy, a 2003 Brandeis
graduate, was an All-American in all three seasons as a senior for
the Judges.
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