Men
At the Valentine Classic, sophomore Basile Beaty got the highest finish for the men's team, coming in 24th in the 500-meter run, with first-year Steven Stewart right behind in 25th place. Beaty's time of 1:06 and Stewart's time of 1:07 were both personal bests. In the 800-meter run, junior co-captain Sam Hayman and first-year Jack Kiley also ran to personal records, finishing 43rd and 73rd, respectively. In the 5,000-meter run, sophomore Tomas Morrissey came in 38th.
At Wesleyan, Amherst swept the first three spots in the 3,000-meter run. First-year Harrison Lakehomer led the way in 9:02.31, followed by juniors Rich Wilson and Rob Boley. All three recorded personal best times. Coming in three spots behind them was first-year Peter Foote. In the 5,000, junior Nate Freese took first place honors, crossing the line at 16:04.66.
A key player in last year's success, junior John Babbott, appears to be returning to form after spending last semester abroad. He won the mile run and contributed to the winning 4x400-meter relay. Senior co-captain Tim Porter, sophomore Ben Read and sophomore Rom Cabeza also ran legs of the relay.
Following Babbott in the mile was more purple, as the Jeffs also grabbed third and fourth, with first-year Joe Addison grabbing the bronze, and junior Eric Glustrom trailing him. Amherst also excelled in the mid-distance races, as Read finished second in the 600-meter run and Cabeza did likewise in the 800.
Women
At the Valentine Classic, sophomore Kim Partee and first-year Zandra Walton were the shining stars, each earning NCAA provisional qualifying times. Partee got hers in the 5,000, finishing in 16th place with a new personal best time of 17:38.35. Walton cruised to 21st place in the 800. Senior co-captain Ginger Polich followed in 27th, with first-year Caitlin McDermott-Murphy rounding out the field for Amherst in an impressive 38th place.
If anyone stole the thunder from Partee's and Walton's NCAA provisional qualifiers, it was sophomore Heather Wilson who was the highest finisher at BU for both the men's and women's teams when she posted a 14th-place finish in the 3,000. She broke the 10-minute barrier and crushed her old personal record with her speedy time of 9:59.15.
Just 22 seconds behind Wilson was first-year Nicole Anderson. Another first-year, Carly Levenson, dashed to 20th place in the 500. She also contributed to the team's fastest 4x400 time of the year when she teamed up with Polich, Walton and McDermott-Murphy.
At Wesleyan, the rest of the team excelled as well. Elise Tropiano '09 and Liz Dalton '09 won the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs, respectively, both finishing over 30 seconds ahead of their nearest competitors. The Jeffs posted no other individual wins, but sophomore Katie Moravec came close twice, taking silver in the 1,000-meter and mile runs.
Junior Hannah Campbell grabbed a couple of third-place finishes in the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Amherst went 2-3 in the 55-meter hurdles with junior Maria Millard eking out first-year Kat Loomis. Campbell and Millard, along with senior co-captain Julia Rucker and first-year Jenny Mancino, took top honors in the 4x400 relay.
This Saturday, both squads will compete in the Div. III New England Regionals, with the men at MIT and the women at Tufts University. The men expect to hit qualifying marks in a handful of events, while the women have even loftier goals. "The women could challenge for a top-three finish this weekend at Div. IIIs," forecasted Nedeau.