Last season, the women's team was led by Carter Hamill '05, who was the NCAA 5000m Champion and broke multiple school records.
After suffering a disappointing season last year, the men will look to rebound with a solid indoor season due to the contributions of many seasoned veterans. A healthy group of newcomers should also bolster this year's squad.
Women's Track
After a successful 2001-2002 season, Coach Erik Nedeau notes that there will be many fresh faces on this year's squad. "There will be significant changes and differences because we graduated so many women from last year who scored a lot of points for us," he said.
Although the depth of last year's squad is gone, the Lord Jeffs should still score very well in both individual and relay events.
Last year, the Jeffs had their strongest meets at the Division III New England Championships and the ECAC Championships. Amherst's best relay team placed in the top three in both meets, and the women had solid performances from other individuals.
Leading the middle distance runners will be Laurel Kilgour '03 and Kate Hamill '03. As well as running in the relays, Lee-Jay Henry '05 will lead the hurdlers this season. Ariel Haney '06 should compete in both the long sprints and hurdles and Erinn White '04 should pose a formidable threat in the long distance events.
"Some of our runners will be amazing this year," said sprinter Monica Westin '05. "We have some freshmen who will help our team."
Nedeau agreed with Westin and said, "We should be stronger in the sprints and jumps than last year, as we have some first-year athletes who excel in those areas and should contribute immediately."
The goals for the season are to send relay teams to nationals as well as the top individual runners.
The women begin their season at the Husky Carnival on Dec.7.
Men's Track
Due to the return of most top runners and the presence of solid freshman, the men's team should have a much stronger season this year.
"We were a young team last year, and now we are a year older so the experience and the extra year of training should help," said Zeke Phillips '05.
"We have the potential to have an extremely strong sprint and hurdle group and also rack up a lot of points in the mid-distance (800m-1600m) events along with the relays," said Coach Nedeau.
Last season, the Jeffs placed well at the Division III New England Championships where several athletes had break through performances leading to earning All-New England honors.
According to Nedeau, Pat Hayes '03 will lead the hurdlers this season while Brian Hart '03, Janak Chandrasoma '04 and Jason Wagstaff '05 will participate in the sprinting events.
Coming off a strong cross country season, John Stanton-Geddes '04 and Jack Morgan '05 should gain valuable points for the Jeffs in the long distance events.