"I was very pleased with both the team efforts," said Head Coach Erik Nedeau. "Both the women and the men raced very strongly against a solid field of competitors."
Women
Though it was the women's first 6000-meter race of the year, the additional distance proved no problem as they beat host school Tufts to claim first place. Co-captain Shauneen Garrahan '07 jumped ahead quickly, opening up a 50-meter gap by the half-mile mark and crossing the finish line 45 seconds ahead of the second-place runner, Tufts' Catherine Beck. The other four Amherst scorers were Heather Wilson '08 in sixth place, Vanessa Sochat '09E in 10th, Nicole Anderson '09 in 14th and Zandra Walton '09 in 21st place. Sophomore Katie Moravec finished sixth for the team with a time of 23:41 and classmate Meg Ray rounded out the varsity seven with a personal record of 23:44, her first time on the varsity team.
"The women's team is undeniably awesome this year," said junior Richard Wilson. "Shauneen laid down the law beginning with her first step off the starting line."
"Laura [Mortimer] and I were running together and we saw a lot of purple jerseys ahead of us, but no Shauneen," said Ray. "Then finally we spotted her: running by herself some impossible distance ahead of anybody else."
The performances of the rest of the team did not pass unnoticed by Nedeau. "The women had runners under 24 minutes for the 6000-meter run who weren't even in our varsity seven, which is a great sign of the team's depth," he said. "We were also missing or not running at full strength a couple runners, so we should get even stronger. As for the first-years, it was their first 6000-meter, and I thought they responded great."
Men
The men's team also saw remarkable performances from many of its members. Sophomore Tomas Morrissey once again led the way for the men, finishing nearly a minute faster than he had on this course last year. While the team did not execute Nedeau's strategy of running as a pack as well as he would have liked, they showed enough teamwork to have several breakthrough races.
The day's notable accomplishments include Harrison Lakehomer '09-who is rapidly catching up to Morrissey-and Mike Harbus '08, who completed the course nearly two minutes faster than he did in 2004. Junior Rob Boley, who came in fourth among the Amherst men, went out with the front pack of the team and ran his best race so far, with Richard Wilson '07 right on his heels. Cooper Knowlton '07 and co-captain Dave Schreiner '06 rounded out the men's varsity seven.
"They continue to impress and step things up," said Nedeau of the men's team. "Last year at this meet, we didn't have anyone finishing under 27 minutes, but this year all five of our scorers cracked the 27-minute barrier."
Next up for both squads is the New England Open in Boston's Franklin Park on Oct. 8.