The Jeffs came in fourth at the Tufts Invite, only surpassed by host Tufts University, Williams College and Bentley College. The Jeffs looks to duplicate such an effort later in the season.
"It was our first time racing against Tufts' and Williams' full squads," said Co-captain Ben Kozyak '02. "They're two of the better teams in the country, and I think we did a good job of going after it."
"Our team is looking strong even though we're missing some key runners. This is a good indication that we'll be one of the more competitive teams in the region as we get to the end of the season," said John Stanton-Geddes '04.
This past weekend, it was once again a mixed squad that filled out the varsity seven. Matt Katz '05 continued his strong season by placing first on the team and 13th overall with a time of 27:09.0. Next came Kozyak, who, despite a pulled hamstring, managed to run a personal best on the course and finish 14th with a time of 27:13.1. Stanton-Geddes was only a second behind Kozyak, coming across the line in 17th place with a time of 27:14.2.
After a thirty second pause in Jeffs crossing the finish line, the second pack of Amherst men descended on the finish. Zeke Phillips '05, Co-captain Rusty Ryan '02 and Carson Taylor '03 finished in 32nd, 35th and 37th, respectively.
"Rusty had a real solid race this weekend," said coach Erik Nedeau. Martin Keck '02 and Jacob Cooper '02 also ran well in their first meet of the season, finishing 68th and 74th, respectively.
It's at this point in the season that the team begins to take a deep breath, and start looking ahead to the upcoming championship season. Last week, the team ran fewer miles in practice, and scaled back training in order to get a much needed breather and hopefully clear up any nagging injuries before making the push forward.
The Jeffs next meet is in two weeks, when they will head back to Boston's Franklin Park for the Open New Englands.