Two weekends ago, the men’s and women’s cross country teams took on Div. I, II and III competition at the Open New England Championships in Boston. The men put in their best performance of the season to finish sixth, while the women were disappointed with their ninth-place finish.

Men

Jimmy Swanson ’10 came up large on the 8-kilometer course with a breakthrough season performance. Armed with his trademark impish smile, the Southerner ran a personal best of 25:47 and finished fourth for Amherst, helping to propel the Lord Jeffs ahead of Williams for the first time in many, many years. Swanson, known on the team as “Jimbo,” got his nickname because of his affinity for a custom Louisiana dish—shrimp gumbo. It was that dish, Swanson explained, that led to his brilliant performance. “In high school, I would always eat a huge serving of gumbo the night before races.” he enthused. “Luckily, my family sent up an emergency gumbo container so I could kick start my season.”

Finishing ahead of the poetic Swanson were pensive junior tri-captain Carlyle Eubank, Will Yochum ’11, and Harrison Lakehomer ’09. Senior tri-captain Lakehomer was happy with the weekend’s work, but warned against relying too much on the gumbo revolution. “I think we’ll need to keep getting better if we are going to get the team results we want in the next few weeks.”

Women

The women could have used some of that southern spice in their racing diets. The Jeffs finished a respectable ninth, but were quite a ways behind NESCAC rivals Williams and Middlebury. One Jeff not lacking spice was seasoned senior Elise Tropiano. The New York native fired herself to an impressive 17:48, finishing second among all female runners and earning NESCAC Runner of the Week honors for the second time this year. Following in Tropiano’s blazing footsteps were Sophia Galleher ’10, and seniors Caitlin McDermott-Murphy and Nicole Anderson. To emulate Swanson’s success, some Jeffs have asked their families to send out traditional foods from their hometowns before this weekend’s race; Hawaii-raised Anderson said she is looking forward to a zesty serving of lau-lau. Food aside, Head Coach Erik Nedeau is confident the women will rebound. “We were a bit off of where we needed to be,” he explained, “but I think that it was a good wake up call and I am really pleased with the workouts since our meet.”