The men's track team had a successful day at the nonscoring Trinity College Bantam Invitational last Saturday. It began with Mike Page '04 and Carson Taylor '03 putting up impressive finishes in the steeplechase. The day ended on an equally exciting note when the men's 4x400 relay team, anchored by senior Co-captain Rob Long, managed to stave off a late run from their opponents and win the event.

Although an early-morning injury to the foot forced Amherst's jumper/hurdler, Julius Nanna '04, out of the competition, the rest of the sprinters made up for his absence by putting on a show of impressive performances. In the 110m hurdles, Pat Hayes '03 just barely missed winning the entire event.  However, his second place finish with a time of 15.52 was not only a personal best, but was also enough to qualify him to run in NESCACs, ECACs and Open New Englands.

"I feel good about the season, and just want to look to improve from one week to the next," said Hayes.

The 200m dash finished in a flash of purple, with senior Greg Baker crossing the line to get fifth, and with Eric Osborne '04 and Phil Jones '04 quickly following to place in the top 10. Jones, who was coming off of a nagging leg injury that had sidelined him for more than a month, showed no signs of pain as he ran his race.

Baker scored another fifth place finish in the 100m.  Although satisfied with this week's results, he pointed out that, "The cooler weather hasn't helped much in terms of muscles being sore from workouts. I think that everyone is still putting in their best efforts, and it should definitely pay off within the next few weeks."

Long, in addition to his impressive relay performance, finished fourth in the 400m, high enough to qualify him for the upcoming NESCACs. He backed up Baker's thoughts, saying, "I think our times weren't incredibly fast this week due to so much energy being exerted during arduous workouts and high-mileage runs. Improving strength and endurance now will result in faster times and higher finishes at later meets."

For the longer distances Amherst also crossed the finish line quickly.  In the steeple, Page finished sixth.  Teammate Carson Taylor '03 quickly followed with a seventh place finish.  In the 5000m, John Stanton-Geddes '04 ran well to place in the top eight.  However, with Stanton-Geddes focusing more on racing the 1500 this season, he said that, "Racing the 5000 will give me the patience and strength I need for the 1500."  Teammates Rusty Ryan '02 and Alex Lenkoski '03 also ran impressive races in the 5000m.