"The guys raced extremely well. This season we were going to need them to step up, and they are demonstrating that they are going to do just that," said Head Coach Erik Nedeau. "The women looked great and the sub-varsity, in particular, really dominated their race."
Women
For this meet, the varsity women tried something unusual: They raced as a pack of seven through the first two miles before chasing after the rest of the runners in earnest.
"Racing in a pack forced some of the girls to hold back for most of the race," Rob Boley '07 said. "And they still came in second, which was awesome."
Coach Nedeau explained his strategy. "I have been stressing the accountability that everyone on the team needs to have," he said. "For us to be as strong as we can be, we need to be able to race as a team where every person matters. Saturday was a good learning experience."
Co-captain Shauneen Garrahan '07 seized an impressive seventh place out of the 264 runners who turned out for the women's varsity race. The other four scorers for Amherst, sophomores Heather Wilson, Kim Partee and Katie Moravec and first-year Nicole Anderson, all made the top 25 coming in 15th, 19th, 24th and 25th place, respectively.
"The girls executed Ned's plan with brutal efficiency," men's co-captain David Schreiner '06 said of their tremendous teamwork. "It was a sight to behold. Look for big things from them in the future."
Meanwhile, the women's sub-varsity put in a magnificent performance. With all five scorers for the women's sub-varsity finishing in the top 10, they demonstrated the depth of the women's team. Rookie Caitlin McDermott-Murphy was the first Amherst racer in at second place, just 10 seconds behind the race winner, while fellow first-year Liz Dalton finished third. Laura Mortimer '08, Meg Ray '08 and rookie Zandra Walton came in sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, to complete the Amherst top five. All Jeffs crossed the finish line in under 20 minutes.
Men
The men's varsity team ran a successful race against a field of contenders that included runners all the way from Japan. Sophomore Tomas Morrissey again led the Amherst men, coming in under 26 minutes and finishing 12th overall. Rising star Harrison Lakehomer '09 and Cooper Knowlton '07 both finished in the top 40, with Knowlton cutting his best time significantly, arguably Knowlton's best career race thus far. Mike Harbus '08 and Richard Wilson '07 rounded out the scoring for the men.
"Tomas put in an extremely solid performance, as usual. As Harrison starts to get more aggressive early in the race, he will have an even bigger impact," said Nedeau. "Cooper had a real breakthrough race. He is one of the guys-along with Mike and Rich-whose consistency of strong racing we will depend on for the team's continued success."
The men's sub-varsity team also had a strong showing, led by Guiney, who finished 14th overall. Peter Foot '09 broke the 29-minute barrier. He and Eric Glustrom '07 both had solid races and showed great cooperation throughout, while Basile Beaty '08 and Ben Read '08 just missed cracking 30 minutes.
Next up for the team is the Tufts Invite on Sept. 24.