Women
Tropiano, recently named the USTFCCCA Div. III Scholar-Athlete of the Year, scored all 10 of the women’s points with a win in the 3000-meter run 9:52.58. In the 3k Tropiano was joined by Sophie Galleher ’10, Hallie Schwab ’11 and Shannon McKenna ’12. The three placed ninth (10:23.19), 12th (10:25.34) and 22nd (10:36.70), respectively. Zandra Walton ’09 also ran on Saturday, finishing 22nd in the one-mile run in 5:15.91.
Both the 4x800 relay and the 4x400 relay ran to season-best times on Saturday afternoon. The 4x800 team of Molly Priedeman ’09, Melissa Sullivan ’12, Liza Schalch ’12 and Hoiwan Cheung ran a 9:29.56 to finish 11th. The 4x400 team of Susan Wasserman ’11, tri-captain Kate Silverman ’09, Mary Doris Reggie ’10 and tri-captain Carly Levenson ’09 finished the day with a 4:01.28 performance to earn 14th place.
Four of the relay runners also competed individually on Friday afternoon. Wasserman ran the 400 in 59.46 to finish 15th while Sullivan ran a 3:04.53 in the 1000 to earn 18th. Reggie and Levenson both competed in the 500, in a 25th place 1:20.23 and 13th place 1:18.45, respectively.
The women finished ahead of several fellow NESCAC schools, including Bates, Bowdoin, Colby and Middlebury Colleges. Tufts University and Williams College squeezed out Amherst by placing 11th and 17th, respectively.
Tropiano was especially proud of the performances. “After some bumps that we were dealing with for the last couple of weeks, it was nice that everyone seems to be fresher and back on track with overall pure racing to win, not just for time.”
Men
While Tropiano was dominating the women’s distance events, Murner was doing the same for the Lord Jeff men. He placed third in the 5000-meter run with a personal record of 14:47.95 to score all six of the Jeffs’ points. In the Jeffs’ only other individual men’s race on Friday, Tommy Moore ’11 ran a 50.52 in the 400 to finish 21st.
In the 3000-meter race, tri-captain Peter Foote ’09 placed ninth, running a solid time of 8:35.09, while Will Yochum ’11 was not far behind, finishing 12th in 8:43.71. Jimmy Swanson ’10 placed 21st in the one-mile run with a time of 4:17.88.
The 4x400 relay team, Tommy Moore ’11, Ryan Drost ’11, Keith Pendergrass ’10 and tri-captain Anthony Fuller ’09, also saw success. The quartet ran a time of 3:26.22, good for 22nd place. Steve Stewart ’09, tri-captain Kit Callahan ’10, Swanson and Yochum snagged 12th in the 4x800 relay with a time of 7:53.83. The Amherst men beat out Tufts, Wesleyan University and Bates.
Murner says the team’s success, especially in longer events, is built on dedicated training. “Foote PRed [set a personal record] in the 3k and Yochum ran 1:58 in the 800 after also having PRed in the 3k. The three of us train together, and, since last season, have taken our training to a new level. Its great to see the benefits beginning to come in. Not to mention, Kit, who used to be a fat, video-game obsessed, glorified water-boy, but who is now slightly less fat, and way more fit, set a college PR, running 1:57 in the 800!”