Senior James Johndrow finished first for Amherst and 14th overall while completing the course in a time of 27:40. Johndrow has been injured for much of his Amherst career and has been inactive for the majority of the meets, but he still earned All-ECAC distinction with his top 15 performance on Saturday. Johndrow's performance earned him the final spot on the Jeffs' roster for Regionals next week at Westfield State University.
Sophomore Dave Molina and junior Andrew Schneider finished second and third, respectively, for the Jeffs with times of 28:03 and 28:17. Molina's 26th place finish earned him the alternate spot on Amherst's team for Regionals and Nationals.
David Schreiner '06 and Cameron Millard '05 rounded out the top five for the Jeffs with solid 49th and 58th place showings.
Although Amherst has not had the regular season they expected, the Jeffs will be able to erase some of their disappointing memories with a solid showing this weekend at Westfield State. In order to qualify for Nationals, which are held at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, the Lord Jeffs will need to finish in the top four in the team standings. This will be no easy feat due to the numerous national contenders present at the regional race.
If the Jeffs want to move on to Minnesota, they will need to upset two of the five colleges currently ranked in the top 25 nationally. Although this might seem like a steep task for the men's team, this is the healthiest the Lord Jeffs have been all year and they have high expectations heading into the final race of the season.