The Open New England Championships at Boston University was another opportunity for members of the Amherst indoor track team to showcase their talent and improve upon their personal records. The Jeffs competed against elite runners from all three divisions. The women came away from the meet with 17th place out of 25 teams. For the men, this meet resulted in no score.

Women

Junior Kate Silverman was enthusiastic about the women’s performance at the meet and said, “I’m really thrilled that so many members of the team had a great season or are at their peak now.” She added, “It’s a very exciting time in the season and bodes very well to the outdoor season.”

Senior tri-captain Heather Wilson led the women by winning the only individual victory of the day, on Friday, with a time of 17:11.88 in the 5,000-meter run. It was also an important win for Wilson personally because she beat her own best time in the race. Elise Tropiano ’09 helped in setting the pace early on in the 5,000-meter run and ended up taking fifth place.

Junior Carly Levenson had a great day overall and took 13th place in the 500-meter run, beating her own school record. On Saturday, Hallie Schwab ’11 and Katie Moravec ’08 had solid standings, finishing 15th and 16th in the 3,000-meter run.

Levenson was back on Saturday to team up with Susan Wasserman ’11, Kristen Ballinger ’11 and Mary Doris Reggie ’10 in the 4-by-400-meter relay. Their time of 3:56.86 set a new school record and earned a provisional qualifying time for the NCAA Championships. “The women’s 4-by-400 ended the day on a strong note,” said junior Peter Foote. “It’s always fun to watch our relay teams run fast times.”

Men

The men also delivered an impressive performance against top competitors of every division. “It was exciting to run against some high-quality competition, including some Div. I teams,” said Foote. “[First-year] Peter Harrison’s race was very impressive. He ran the fastest mile for an Amherst runner in recent memory. My race went out faster than I’m used to, so I was happy to cut off a few more seconds from my PR.”

Harrison earned a provisional qualification for the NCAA Championships for his time in the mile, and Jimmy Swanson ’10 continued to improve upon his speedy times by settiing two new personal records.

In addition, Foote undercut his best time by finishing 15th in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:46.82, while John McGrail ’11 placed 25th in the same race. The 5,000-meter run showed Daniel Murner ’10 taking 16th and Mike Harbus ’08 placing 20th despite struggling with being sick.