Track runs strong at Tufts meet
By Jane Sung, Sports Editor
Last Saturday, at the second Tufts University Invitational of the season, the Amherst indoor track team enjoyed a number of stellar performances, especially in the distance medley relays.

On the women's side, the 'A' team was made up of Becca Woo '02, tri-captain Amie Shei '02, Laurel Kilgour '03 and Carter Hamill '05, who together ran a time of 12:21.80 for second place overall. The 'B' team, composed of Diana Rancourt '02, Kate Hamill '03, tri-captain Annie Perez '02 and Aly Venti '04, finished right behind them in third, with a final time of 12:37.99. Both teams made the NCAA Provisional Standard.

Overall, the women placed third out of 13 teams. In the other races, the Jeffs did just as well. Carter Hamill provisionally qualified for NCAA's with her outstanding performance in the 1500m. Venti finished seconds behind her in sixth place. In the field events, Lee Jay Henry '05 did well, taking second in the long jump and third in the triple jump. Back on the track, Shei finished with runner-up honors in the 500m. Kilgour also placed second in a very fast heat of the 800m, with Rancourt finishing fourth and Perez sixth.

"The start is always aggressive in [this] particular race. It was elbow to elbow," said Perez. "People were very close together throughout the whole race."

Woo won the 1000m and set a new personal record. In the 3000m, Molly Burnett '02, tri-captain Emily Lobsenz '02 and Erinn White '04 went 2-3-4, with Sarah DeGraaf '05 finishing eighth.

The men placed sixth out of 12 teams. Their winning distance medley relay team consisted of Dave Molina '05, Janak Chandrasoma '04, Jack Morgan '05 and John Stanton-Geddes '04. They, too, qualified for the NCAA Provisional Standard. Rusty Ryan '02 started off the day with a confident win in the 5000m, almost breaking the 16:00 mark with a time of 16:00.99. Molina took fourth in the 1500m, as did Chandrasoma in the 400m. In the 800m, Morgan had runner up honors while Stanton-Geddes finished fourth. In the 3000m, Matt Katz '05 and Zeke Phillips '05 finished sixth and seventh. The 4 x 400 relay team also had a successful day, placing sixth overall.

The last regular season meet for both teams will be held at Smith College this Saturday. They expect a strong showing. "We usually do pretty well at Smith, because that's where we train," said Perez. "We also have a really deep team, [with] a lot of good runners in each event." They will then head to the Division III championship, to be held on Feb. 15-16.

Issue 15, Submitted 2002-02-06 11:33:48