place finish at the NESCAC Championships hosted by Tufts University.
Bowdoin College took top honors in the race, finishing with an impressive 44 points, while Williams and Bates Colleges rounded out the top three. Wesleyan University edged the Lord Jeffs by nine points for the seventh place position.
Although the men did not place as high as they had hoped, many unseasoned runners were forced into prime roles due to the many injuries that have plagued the team in the past few weeks.
Junior Michael Page was once again held out of action due to a nagging injury.
Although the weather was not ideal for running, the pace was pretty fast for the 8-kilometer course. Ryan Bak of Trinity won the race with a brisk time of 24:32.53, finishing well ahead of the field. Justin Easter of Bates took second place followed by Williams' Karl Remsen who finished third.
Amherst was once again led by Junior John Stanton-Geddes who recorded a time of 26:13 en route to an 11th place individual finish. Freshman Fraser Kitchell finished second for the Jeffs and 27th overall while posting a time of 26:48. Kitchell was closely followed by Carson Taylor '03 who placed 38th while completing the course in a time of 27:11.
Zeke Phillips '05 and Chase Bourke '06 rounded out the top five for Amherst. Phillips finished with a time of 27:23 and placed 50th overall, while Bourke finished in 27:28, which was good enough for 52nd place. Like in past races, the Jeffs were unable to get out of the pack quickly and were consequently unable to track down the lead runners.
Additionally, the running conditions made it difficult to race from behind since it was hard to make up lost time throughout the 8-kilometer course.
"We definitely did not end the season the way that we had hoped," said Dave Schreiner '06. "We just have to use this experience in the years to come."
Although the Jeffs are not going to be pleased with their results from last weekend, many positives can be taken from the race.
The major injuries that have plagued the team throughout the year have forced many underclassmen to step into the lineup. This will undoubtedly benefit the team in the years to come as they will look to improve on this year's results since the men's team will be losing only three runners to graduation.
Next up for the Lord Jeffs are the ECAC Championships hosted by Williams this Saturday.