Due to the bad weather that has marked the start of the 2003 spring season, the coaching staff scheduled a rare home meet during the short season. The Jeffs took advantage of the great weather and had a very competitive meet against their UMass compatriots. Both the men and women's teams were using this meet as an extra opportunity to make some of their qualifying times that were difficult to achieve at their previous meets because of poor conditions.
"People were able to take advantage of the good weather and we ran some good times," said Kate Hamill '03.
On Saturday, April 12, both track teams traveled to the Eph Valley for the Williams Relays. This meet consisted of the normal events along with many more relays than usual. Everyone ran in at least one. While the runners delighted in the vastly improved weather, they still had to battle the wind.
Women's Track
Sophomore Carter Hamill's showing in the 5000-meter was the team's top performance of the meet. Hamill lapped all of her competitors, while coming away with a NCAA provisional time. Coach Nedeau commented on Hamill's amazing performance. "Carter Hamill had a solo run, lapping everyone in the field en route to her 17:20 time," he said.
Carter Hamill raced to the team's only two first-place finishes of the day. Later in the meet, she took her second first-place finish when she was joined by teammates Jessamyn Conell-Price '06, Ariel Haney '06 and tri-captain Kate Hamill '03 in the Distance Medley Relay.
In the high hurdles, first-year Kristine Morin led the squad with a second-place finish, followed by Nzingha Tyehemba '06 in third. Shortly afterward, Tyehemba ran her season's best time in the 400-meter hurdles. Conell-Price took an individual place of second in the 400-meter, setting a new best time under 60 seconds. Junior Alyson Venti made her debut in the steeplechase, running a great time under 12 minutes to take sixth place.
In the sprint medley relay, the quartet of tri-captain seniors Alison Stahl and Laurel Kilgour and freshmen Julia Rucker and Ginger Polich snatched second place. In the 1500-meter, junior Erinn White led the Amherst runners with a solid time. In the 800-meter run, tri-captain seniors Kate Hamill and Kilgour raced a strong field as well as the wind, and managed to capture 4th and 5th places, respectively.
Men's Track
One of the highlights of the men's meet was the team's single first-place finish. Sophomore Mike Page ran the steeplechase for the first time in two years and won by a considerable margin. Coach Nedeau described the win. "Mike Page got the win in the steeplechase, winning by almost 30 seconds and was never challenged," he said.
The 800-meter run was very exciting for the men. Sophomore Jack Morgan led the Amherst trio of Dave Molina '05, Andrew Schneider '04 and himself to second, third and fourth place finishes. All three men ran in excellent times under two minutes, despite having to battle the wind. Coach Nedeau described this event as the men's greatest feat of the meet. He said, "The men's 800 would have been the best race for the guys as Jack Morgan, Dave Molina and Andy Schneider went 2-3-4, all running under two minutes in windy conditions."
First-year Nick Canevari took to the field and walked away with a fifth-place finish in the discuss. Previously, Canevari had raced solidly with fellow throwers Brad Backus '05, W. Gee Roe '04 and Matt Birmingham '05 in the 4 x 100-meter weight man's relay.
In the two-mile run, sophomore Matthew Katz placed fifth in under ten minutes. In the 100-meter dash, Jason Wagstaff '05 grabbed fourth, running against a strong wind. In the 400-meter, junior Janak Chandrasoma led tri-captain senior Brian Hart and freshman Ngai Otieno to a sweep of their section.
The purple quartet of junior John Stanton-Geddes, Schneider, Morgan and Fraser Kitchell '06 snatched second in the Distance Medley Relay. Then in the 1500-meter, Stanton-Geddes took fifth, ahead of first-year team members Evan Guiney and Billy McNitt.
Several of the runners were dissatisfied with their performances. First-year Dave Schreiner explained, "We've been training pretty hard so we're really tired and that showed in some of the performances." Nevertheless, he is optimistic about the rest of the season. "I feel like we're going to do pretty well this season," he said.
Junior Janak Chandrasoma also explained, "I felt like our showing at the meet wasn't as good as one might hope for but that's understandable. Our training prepares us for the end of the season and championships, and that's where we'll be ready to dominate. It will be the climax of our season."
Coach Nedeau is also looking forward to the rest of the season. "The weather is starting to warm up and hopefully we will take advantage of that and get things rolling," he said. "We are getting to the championship portion of the season now, so we are focused on our best performances occurring and competing to the best of abilities."
The men and women will be traveling to Wesleyan this weekend for the Little III Championship.