The women's track team kicked off their season in excellent form with a fourth place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational last week. "This is the most talented, well balanced team we have had," said Assistant Coach John Adamson. "We have the ability to score points in the hurdles [and] jumps and on the track at the highest levels of competition." And, at Connecticut College, the women did exactly that-scoring in a bevy of events en route to their strong finish.

The Amherst women swept the 800m run, with Laurel Kilgour '03 claiming the victory and Rebecca Woo '02 and tri-captain Amie Shei '02 not far behind. Woo won the 1500m, leading an Amherst-laden field wire-to-wire. Carter Hamill '05 placed second in the event while Kilgour, Diana Rancourt '02 and tri-captain Annie Perez '02 all scored points for the team. In the 5K, the women were led by Erinn White '04 and tri-captain Emily Lobsenz '02. Lee-Jay Henry '05 had a great day, winning the triple jump and taking second and third places in the long jump and 100m dash, respectively. Alison Stahl '03 scored in both the 200m and long jump.

Since it was early in the season, Head Coach Erik Nedeau had many of the women running in multiple events and longer races in order to build endurance, which makes their performances that much more impressive.

The team traveled to Trinity College on Saturday to run in their second meet of the year. The women had to endure the cold, making warm ups and races difficult.

Henry had another outstanding meet, finishing sixth in the 100m, third in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump. Woo improved last week's time by three seconds to take third place in the 800m. Perez and Rancourt also ran strong races and scored points for the team. In the mile run, Hamill paced Amherst with a sixth place finish while Alyson Venti '04 and White both had strong performances. Helen Dole '04 and Kate Hamill '03 combined to claim eighth and ninth places in the 400m hurdles.

Amherst only entered one runner in each of the longest races of the day. In the 10,000m race, Lobsenz endured the cold winds and strode to third. And in the 5,000, it was Sarah DeGraaf '05 who grabbed ninth place.

Considering the weather conditions, the team seemed very encouraged by their performances and only sees improvement in the future. "Everyone is working very hard and has a positive attitude. This is the time of year when the workouts begin to pay off," said Shei.

Next week, the team will travel to Williamstown to take on the Ephs, among others.