The first meet of the New Year was on Jan. 13, the first of three Tufts University Invitationals. Although it was a non-scoring meet and the runners used the competition as a more intense practice, many Jeffs came up with many impressive finishes. For the women, senior tri-captain Maria Millard led by placing second in the 800-meter run and anchoring the 4x800-meter relay, which provided Amherst with a first-place win. In the 3,000-meter run, sophomore Caitlin Murphy finished third and ran a strong 1,000 meter race. Other sophomore Jeffs, including Molly Priedeman, Carly Levenson and Kate Silverman, added top 10 finishes in the 400-meter run as well. First-years Cami Farkas finished first for the Jeffs in the 200-meter run and Jennifer Rybak placed seventh in the long jump.
The men's team achieved success at the Tufts competition as well. Senior tri-captain John Babbott took 20 seconds off his best time in the 5,000-meter run, giving him a first-place win. First-years also showed promise with Carlyle Eubank placing fourth in the 3,000 and Keith Pendergrass placing eighth in the 400. Pendergrass later joined first-year Kit Callahan and sophomores Thomas Foote and Steve Stewart in the 4x400 to receive third place.
After another week of intense training, the Jeffs returned to Tufts for the second invitational. However, this event did include scoring against 16 other teams. Impressively, the women placed second overall and the men finished in fourth. With two individual wins in the 55-meter hurdles and the 500-meter dash in which she almost broke a 14 year-old school record, Millard led the women to success. She also joined first-year Sophie Galleher, Levenson and Murphy to place second in the distance medley relay. Senior tri-captain Shauneen Garrahan won the mile run, while Murphy, junior Heather Wilson, and Galleher came in second, fifth and seventh respectively. In the triple jump, Rybak placed seventh and junior Lauren Benson ran a strong 1,000-meter race as she finished in seventh as well.
For the men, Babbott proved to be a strong force again, by winning the 3,000. Senior Nate Freese placed second in the event while junior Mike Harbus, first-year Daniel Murner and senior Robert Boley finished third, fifth and eighth, respectively. Making their track debuts were first-years, Will Fairhurst and Willy Sego who placed 10th and 11th respectively. With respective second- and third-place finishes, Bell and first-year Jimmy Swanson made an impact in the mile. In the 500 Foote and Pendergrass fought their way to the finish line, placing 10th and 11th, respectively, with less than two-tenths of a second between them.
The last of the Interterm events provided the Jeffs with an tough challenge: A portion of the team went to Boston University for the highly competitive Terrier Classic while the majority went to the Wesleyan Invitational. In Boston, after many grueling Interterm practices Garrahan placed 12th in the 3,000 and finished second in her heat for the mile, just missing the NCAA provisional mark. Sophomore Elise Tropiano succeeded in the 5,000 by provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships with a time of 17:34.
The 3,000 showcased the highest-placed finishers for the men. Freese, Harbus and sophomore Harrison Lakehomer finished one-two-three in their heat. Babbott provided the team's fastest time in the mile with 4:21 to place 44th.
At the Wesleyan event the women's 4x400 team of Levenson, Priedeman, Rybak and first-year Mary Doris Reggie finished third. Sophomore Mattie Baker showed impressive times in the 55-meter dash and in the 200 as well.
The men were led by a second-place finish from Peter Foote '09 in the 3,000 and fifth- and ninth-place finishers, Rich Wilson '10 and Joe Addison '09 in the same race. First-year Thomas Anderson had the best time in the mile for the Jeffs and later led the DMR team to a sixth-place finish.
"We were training really hard, twice a day, so we're hoping to see the results in upcoming meets," said first-year Amanda McGinn. "It's a big team with a lot of potential, so we're looking forward to good things in the future."