Practically a home meet, last weekend’s UMass-Amherst Invitational gave the men’s and women’s track teams a chance to strut their stuff in front of friends and family. In a miraculous turn of events, the weather—originally forecasted for rain—cooperated and provided the runners at the meet with beautiful conditions for fast times. Both teams showed their gratefulness by competing above and beyond their caliber, with the Invitational including many Div. I foes.
Men
The men managed to walk away with ninth place, scoring 22 points as a team after all was said and done. This low finish fails to speak for the successes won individually by the team. In the seeded section of the 5,000-meter run, rookie Florian Reichert, junior Peter Foote and sophomore Eric Holaday ran well late in the meet to finish sixth, ninth and 11th, respectively. Reichert’s time of 15:22.70 qualified him for ECACs.
Hitting qualifying marks has become increasingly important as the regular season quickly comes to a close. One last regular meet remains, tentatively scheduled for April 22 at Amherst. In the 3,000-meter Steeplechase, Kevin Hanley ’11 tried his hand and ran away with third place in a time of 10:26.19. Michael Harbus ’08, a veteran runner, came down in distance for the 1,500-meter run and just missed dipping under the four-minute barrier. He finished in 4:02.34 (an ECAC qualifying time), netting ninth place. Also in the 1,500, multiple athletes finished over a short spread of time. Sophomore Daniel Murner finished next for Amherst in 4:05.76 (18th) followed by first-year William Yochum (4:07.25 for 19th) and sophomore Ben Klein (4:12.10 for 25th).
The hot weather, in the low 70s at times, made for fast finishes in the shorter events. Jimmy Swanson ’10 and Peter Harrison ’11 burned up the track in the 800-meter run, finishing fourth and third, respectively. Harrison’s time of 1:53.18 just sneaked under the NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark, while Swanson missed by tenths of seconds. The 400-meter dash marked success for the sprint group as tri-captain Steve Shashy ’08 finally broke his 55 spell and ran a 53.80 for 26th place. Keith Pendergrass ’10 finished 25th in 53.22 and tri-captain Basile Beaty ’08 returned to the track, looking strong with a time of 52.45 (22nd). Junior Anthony Fuller, first-year Sean Legister, sophomore Larry Thompson and first-year Michael Dolmatch dropped solid times in the 100 to finish 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th, respectively.
The field was worked well by Ryan Bone ’10 and Chris Eaton ’11, throwing well in the Shot Put and earning 12th and 14th, respectively. Shashy pulled out an 11th place victory in the Javelin. Commenting on the day as a whole, Shashy said, “Competing in such an environment gives our team a nice boost of confidence going into the tail end of our season, whether it comes from running PRs [personal records] or … compet[ing] with athletes that, on the whole, are considered ‘better’ than us.”
Women
The women finished sixth overall with 44 total team points. Katie Moravec ’08, Hallie Schwab ’11 and Liz Dalton ’09 shook things up in the 5,000 as they ran to fast finishes (fifth, eighth and 12th, respectively). Always a powerhouse, Elise Tropiano ’09 dominated the Steeplechase, coming in second place and qualifying provisionally for Nationals in 10:58.60. Zandra Walton ’09 followed her, finishing in fifth with a time of 11:33.00. The women’s 1,500 saw a few runners with the top Amherst finishes going to senior tri-captain Heather Wilson, sophomore Sophie Galleher and junior Nicole Anderson. They took 14th through 16th, respectively, all finishing just under the five-minute mark. The 800 was an exciting race to watch as first-year menace Kristen Ballinger smoked the field with a big kick. She took home first place (2:14.17) and a provisional qualifying time for Nationals. Carly Levenson ’09 also had a solid race, finishing 14th and breaking the 2:20 mark, with a time of 2:19.91. Susan Wasserman ’11 continues to dominate in the 400-meter hurdles, as she finished in fourth place and qualified for the Open New England Championships with a time of 65.47. Junior Mattie Baker, the lone entrant for the team in the 100, made a strong showing taking 14th place in 13.50.
Sarah Leyman ’11 continued to be dominant in the field, raking in two fifth-place finishes in the Shot Put and Hammer Throw. Tri-captain Kate Silverman credited much of the team’s success to the weather and competition. “From the surprise perfect weather to the many PRs and breakthroughs we had, the meet was a great day for us. It’s nice to see us hold our own against quality Div. I teams. It really put our season on a positive note and hopefully the success will carry over as the championship season starts.”