On Saturday, the track teams traveled to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., to compete in the Little Three Championships against the Wesleyan University Cardinals and the Williams College Ephs. The women, finishing the day with 114 points overall, managed to beat out Wesleyan, but fell short of Williams’ 174 points. The men, finishing third overall with 91 points, were just shy of Wesleyan’s 102.

Men

The Lord Jeff men gave a wonderful effort this past Saturday at Wesleyan but unfortunately ended up placing third out of the only three teams competing. Among the sprinters, Sean Legister ’10 placed third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.40. Co-captain Anthony Fuller ’09 also stood out with a fifth place finish in the same event with a time of 11.55 seconds. Spencer Russell ’12 finished the 110-meter hurdles with an impressive second place finish in 15.78 seconds. Fuller and Legister also represented the Lord Jeff men in the 200-meter dash with a sixth and seventh place finish, respectively. In the 400-meter dash, the Amherst men swept third through seventh place with Andrew Reed ’12 leading the pack. He was followed by Tommy Moore ’11, Steve Stewart ’09, Larry Thompson ’10 and Keith Pendergrass ’10.

In the distance events, Will Yochum ’11 placed fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.01. Teammates Will Bell ’10 and Jimmy Swanson ’10 were not far behind in sixth and eighth place with times of 1:56.28 and 1:57.53. Carlyle Eubank ’10 finished the 1500-meter run in 4:03.69, earning himself a fourth place finish. He was joined by Steve Corsello ’11 and Geoff Ainslie ’12, who both also placed in the top 10 in the same event. Co-captain Peter Foote ’09 pulled through in the longest event, the 5000-meter, with a third place finish and a time of 15:30.88. Eric Holaday ’10 also managed a seventh place finish with a 15:42.71. The men then ended on a high note in the relays, with a first place finish in the 4x400-meter relay consisting of Tommy Moore ’11, Kit Callahan ’10, Steve Stewart ’09 and Andrew Reed ’12. That relay is now ranked first in the NESCAC with a time of 3:21.74, which should bode well for the team heading into this weekend’s NESCAC championship meet.

Bell, Dan Murner ’10, Swanson and Yochum also competed in the Larry Ellis Invitational on Friday. Murner won the 10,000-meter run in a school-record 30:43.33 while Yochum, Swanson and Bell ran the 1500 in 3:54.51, 3:56.38 and 4:00.28 respectively. Murner and Yochum each qualified provisionally for NCAAs.

Women

On the women’s side, Amherst ran impressively in both short and long distances. In the 100-meter dash, Mattie Baker ’09 placed fifth amongst nine runners with a time of 13.61. Three runners represented Amherst well in the 100-meter hurdles: tri-captain Kate Silverman ’09, Kat Loomis ’09 and Zoe Pagonis ’11 snagged the fourth, fifth and sixth spots, respectively. Mattie Baker was also one to watch in the 200-meter dash, finishing fifth out of 14 runners with a time of 27.62. Fellow senior and tri-captain Carly Levenson was not far behind in eighth place with a time of 27.92. Amherst had several key runners in the 400-meter hurdles, including Susan Wasserman ’11 and Silverman. The pair finished third and fourth with times of 1:08.5 and 1:08.73.

The Amherst women proved themselves competent in longer distances as well. The 800-meter run was a key race for Amherst, as four runners finished in the top 10. Hoiwan Cheung ’10 led the group, finishing third with a time of 2:19.65. Cheung was followed by Molly Priedeman in fourth, Liza Schalch ’12 in fifth and Mariana Palacios ’09 in eighth place.

Melissa Sullivan ’12 also contributed to Amherst’s successful day by finishing sixth out of 19 runners in the 1500-meter run. Sullivan ran an impressive time of 4:46.53, earning the Jeffs four points.

Tri-captain Elise Tropiano ’09 dominated the 5000-meter run. Tropiano finished in first place out of 13 runners with a time of 17:50.08, more than 15 seconds in front of Wesleyan’s second-place runner Ravenna Neville. Jordan Roehl ’12 continues to be a standout in the field events. On Saturday Roehl won the hammer throw with a throw of 36.06 m, which earned Amherst seven points. She also finished second in both the shot put and the discus throw, chipping in with 10 points between the two events.

Both the men and women are now preparing for the NESCAC Championships, to be held Saturday at Connecticut College.