Women
The women began the meet on a high note, as both sophomore Nicole Anderson and junior Katie Moravec placed within the top eight of the 5,000-meter run, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Junior Laura Mortimer just missed scoring, coming in ninth overall. Amherst's normal stars of the event, junior Heather Wilson and sophomore Elise Tropiano, took the week off in preparation for the upcoming NCAA championships.
Things only got better for the Jeffs from there. Senior tri-captain Shauneen Garrahan, running as a tune-up for next week's NCAA Championships, broke her own school record by more than two seconds in the 1,000-meter run, coming in second by a mere 16 milliseconds. Sophomore mainstay Caitlin McDermott-Murphy ran the event in just under three minutes, winning her unseeded heat by more than six seconds and coming in third overall.
Senior tri-captain Maria Millard came very close to breaking the school record in the 400-meter run, placing 10th overall. Sophomore Carly Levenson finished eighth in the 500-meter run, while first-year Sophie Galleher placed fifth in the 3,000-meter run, lowering her personal best time. The 4x400 relay team, comprised of the team's three senior captains, Garrahan, Millard and Hannah Campbell, combined with Murphy to finish fifth out of 16 teams.
Despite the women's relatively high finish, their times were significantly slower than those from last weekend's Open New England Championships at Boston University. Much of that can be attributed to the differences in track; while BU's track is banked, helping sprinters make faster turns, Wesleyan's is not. Murphy, however, chose to look at this as a positive in the grand scheme of things. "The experience on a slow, unbanked track can give us an edge," she hypothesized. "We were all able to run fast times, despite the handicap of a sub-par facility."
The fact that the meet was relatively low-key in contrast to next week's NCAAs also helped some Amherst runners. "Polishing off the season with a low-key meet, still running PRs," Murphy said. " ... and still simply running fast despite imperfect racing conditions shows real promise for outdoor, when the competition and the facilities will push us to PR more than we already have and give us an edge over other teams."
Men
Based solely on the scoreboard, the men had another disappointing weekend; none of them entered the season hoping to finish in the 30s. Nonetheless, there were some strong performances along the way. Sophomore Harrison Lakehomer placed fourth in the 3,000. First-years Tom Anderson and Jimmy Swanson also scored for the Jeffs, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
The relay teams, unlike last week, ran mistake-free races. The 4x800 team, made up of first-year Kit Callahan, sophomore Steve Stewart, senior Eric Glustrom and senior tri-captain John Babbott, barely missed scoring, placing ninth overall. The 4x400 team, comprised of juniors Rom Cabeza and Basile Beaty, first-year Keith Pendergrass and senior tri-captain Sam Hayman, placed 14th. Sophomore Peter Foote focused on the highlights of the weekend. "The 1,000 was a great event for both the men and the women, although Harrison's run in the 3,000 was also very impressive," he said. "The women are sharp and ready for nationals, and everyone looks poised for strong outdoor campaigns."