Women
The women’s team crushed its competition in the race at Keene State, placing five runners in the top 10 and winning the race by a whopping 60 points.
Tri-captain Sophie Galleher ’10 was the overall winner, finishing nearly 20 seconds ahead of Springfield College’s Amanda DiPaolo. DiPaolo, who took second place on Saturday, had finished 43 seconds ahead of Galleher at the Amherst Invitational three weeks earlier. At Keene State, however, Galleher took the lead from the start and never relinquished it, posting a time of 18:40 in the five-kilometer race.
“This win was a great confidence-builder that will hopefully help us race well at Open New England’s this coming weekend,” said Galleher.
A trio of Amherst runners came in shortly after Galleher, as Ali Simeone ’13, Hallie Schwab ’11 and Melissa Sullivan ’12 finished within twelve seconds of each other. All three women crossed the line in just over 19 minutes, taking fourth, fifth and sixth overall in the field of 143 runners.
Next across the line was junior tri-captain Christina Wong, with a time of 19:26 and a ninth place overall finish. Mercedes Taylor ’11 finished seven seconds later and Elodie Reed ’13 crossed the line as Amherst’s seventh runner in 19:41.
Laura Zaccagnino ’12, who finished the race in 21:15, was pleased with the team’s victory and continues to expect positive progression.
“We had a lot of tight pack running overall, which is really a testament to the team’s ability to work together,” Zaccagnino said. “Also, we had a lot of individuals continue to step up this week, including a very solid pack of first years, to prove that, though we may be flying under the radar in comparison to last year, we still have the potential to exceed expectations this season.”
Head coach Erik Nedeau observed that the women did “a great job of looking for their teammates and feeding off of each other in the harder parts of the race.”
Despite finishing ahead of her teammates, Galleher also noticed the team support.
“I think the win was nice because we really worked as a team. People have been skeptical about our team this year, so it’s good to see that things are coming together,” said Galleher.
The women’s next race will be on Saturday at Franklin Park in Boston.
Men
Despite the wet conditions and noticeable absences of a few team members, the men’s team had five runners finish in the top 25 overall. Senior tri-captain Daniel Murner was the meet’s top scorer, running the five-mile race in 25:54 and trailing only Ruben Sanca, an unattached runner, in the race. Amherst’s next finisher was junior Steve Corsello, who took 13th place of 144 with a 26:32 time. Standout first-year Andrew Erskine followed just one second behind Corsello, claiming 14th place. John McGrail ’11 and Travis Cohoon ’11 finished fourth and fifth for the Jeffs, completing the team scoring with times of 26:44 and 26:57, respectively.
Amherst’s sixth and seventh runners were tri-captain Carlyle Eubank ’10 and sophomore Alec Jacobson. Eubank, usually a top finisher for the team, managed to run a 27:13 time despite an illness. Jacobson’s 27:20 was just off his best time from last year, and every Amherst runner finished the race in less than 29 minutes, with no Jeff running slower than 5:50 mile pace. These factors, in addition to the expected returns of several key runners in the upcoming races, indicate that the team can still soar beyond its successful performances thus far.
After the race, top scorer Murner said, “At this point in the season, guys are banged up and exhausted from the training. I think this showed in the results. But the work we are doing now will help us later on — the upperclassmen have experienced this before. Still, some people ran great races. This is evidence that the work is already starting to pay off.”
The men will be looking for their hard work to pay off further when they race next Saturday in the New England Championships. The meet will be at Franklin Park in Boston at 1:30 PM.