The star Jeff was first-year Shauneen Garrahan, who won the women's meet with a time of 18:13.6. In addition to Garrahan, several other runners took home All-NESCAC honors. Head Coach Erik Nedeau was extremely pleased with their races. "To compare it to a mini-Nationals or a preview of the district qualifying meet in two weeks certainly would not have been an exaggeration," he said.
Women's Cross Country
"The women grabbed the runner-up spot, a mere nine points behind host Middlebury, and 13 and 15 points in front of Williams and Trinity to capture their best placing ever," said Coach Nedeau.
The Jeffs immediately asserted that they would have a dominant showing in the meet. Garrahan, Carter Hamill '05, and Aly Venti '04 stepped up the pace and created a gap on the entire field with only two runners in their wake. When they entered the home stretch, Garrahan and Hamill were left battling a Wesleyan runner for the top three spots. Garrahan succeeded in edging the Wesleyan runner out to finish first.
Garrahan's win marks only the second time an Amherst runner has had a first place individual finish in NESCACs. Only a few steps behind Garrahan, Hamill crossed the finish line in third place, followed by Venti in fifth place. This trio earned First-Team All-NESCAC honors, but their impressive finish was not enough to capture the top team placing.
Co-captain Erinn White '04 finished fourth for Amherst and 22nd overall, followed by Margaret Davis '06 in 33rd. Sophomore Ginger Polich ran well and earned the team's sixth place spot. Jenny Horowitz '06 rounded out the women's varsity seven.
The second place finish moved Amherst from the number seven national ranking up to second in the country.
Men's Cross Country
The women's incredible performances inspired the men as they hit the trails. The men finished third with 89 points, behind Tufts with 48 points and Williams with 57 points.
The race really started to pick up in the second half, when junior Matt Katz established his top-10 position. Then co-captain Mike Page '05 got warmed up. "There was not much to stop him as he moved quickly through the pack of runners in front of him and pulled into the top group in the last mile," said Nedeau. This strong effort enabled Page to place third overall. Katz was left to battle a pack of Tufts harriers and finished in sixth place. Both men earned First-Team All-NESCAC honors for their performances.
While Katz and Page had extremely impressive times, the rest of the team needed to pick up the pace for the team to finish in a top three position. Junior Jack Morgan knew what he had to do. "The biggest move, and possibly the difference in the teams' finish, was Jack Morgan's finishing mile, as he made a huge move and went by about 20 guys during the last mile of the race," said Nedeau. Morgan was followed only 11 seconds later by co-captain John Stanton-Geddes '04.
The team's success was augmented by the announcement that the NESCAC cross country had selected Nedeau as NESCAC women's Coach of the Year.
For both the men and the women, the top seven runners are especially excited about their finishes. According to Nedeau, the top seven will sit out this weekend's ECAC tournament at Tufts University in order to train for the district championship, which will take place at the University of Southern Maine Saturday, Nov. 15.