The men’s and women’s cross country teams, boasting both an arsenal of race-hardened upperclassmen and high-shooting first-years, have put together solid performances in their four races of the season. Despite having set high goals, the Jeffs are enjoying the challenge and achieving impressive results. Their successes have silenced any skeptics who, in the preseason, may have doubted how far the Jeffs could go.
This Saturday, both teams look to showcase their talent at the Little Three Championships on the Amherst College cross country course.
Head Coach Erik Nedeau said, “Both teams have been running well, and, despite some injury setbacks early on, we are coming into the Championship portion of the season at full strength and right where I was hoping we would be in terms of our training,”
Men
The men began their season with authority on their own five-kilometer course. Defeating the Wheaton College harriers by a score of 15 points to 50, Amherst sent nine runners through the finishing chute before the top Wheaton runner claimed 10th place. Five Jeffs broke the 17-minute mark, and Will Yochum ’11 claimed the top spot overall. His time of 15:59 was nearly a minute and a half ahead of Wheaton’s top runner.
The following week, the men jogged over to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) for their first eight-kilometer race of the season. Facing four Div. I schools, the Jeffs took fourth place and sent their first five runners across the finish line in less than 27 minutes. Within the strong field of 58 runners, these five (Eubank, tri-captain Daniel Murner ’10, Steve Corsello ’11, John McGrail ’11 and Travis Cohoon ’11) finished in the top 25 overall. All 16 Lord Jeffs who raced, including three first-years racing 8k for the first time, finished the race in under a half hour.
Two weeks later, the men crossed state lines into New Hampshire and raced at Keene State College. Again, Amherst’s first five finishers broke the 27-minute mark and were in the top 25 overall. Every Jeff finished the race in less than 29 minutes — a 5:50 mile pace. The team finished in third place out of 11 competitive teams, and Murner won the race with a time of 25:54.
Of the race, Murner said, “At this point in the season, guys are banged up and exhausted from the training. But the work we are doing now will help us later on, and some people ran great races. This is evidence that the work is already starting to pay off.”
Banged up as they might have been at Keene State, the men were ready to crank out some fast times at the New England Championship meet on Oct. 10. Claiming 12th place of 47, the team ran extremely well, finishing second only to Williams College among the eight NESCAC schools in the men’s field. Eubank earned top finisher status on the team, as he led the Jeffs with a time of 25:37.
After seeing Amherst’s top seven runners, including himself, finish in less than 27 minutes, first-year Andrew Erskine said, “The season is going very well with a lot of these fast times. Now I’m excited to see how we do in the various championship meets.”
The next race will be a championship meet, as the Jeffs prepare for the championship race this Saturday. Nedeau is expecting a strong performance from his team, and is already looking ahead to the NCAA National Championship meet.
“The guys have been a little shorthanded for much of the season due to some injuries, but we are returning at full strength this weekend. The team is ready to start a championship winning streak, culminating in a huge performance at Nationals. At full strength, we are as deep, if not deeper, than just about every team in the country, and we will need everyone to continue to step up in each race. If we do that, this should be the best season for the men in program history.”
Women
The women’s team has joined the men at all four meets this season and achieved successes of its own. Thus, they also began their season with a victory at home in a 5-kilometer race.
Tri-captain Sophie Galleher ’10 finished the race second overall in 19:50, and Amherst claimed nine of the next twelve finishing spots. The Jeffs finished their day with a decisive victory, accumulating just 23 points to Springfield College’s 38 and Wheaton’s 79.
After the race, Mercedes Taylor ’11, who finished in sixth place overall, said, “I am really pumped about the girls’ team performance. We had a strong front group of upperclassmen, but there were three to four freshmen who came in right behind us, which is going to be key.”
Indeed, a pair of first years made their presences known the following weekend at the UMass Invitational, as Ali Simeone ’13 finished in 18:41 and Elodie Reed ’13 was Amherst’s seventh finisher. Galleher, running an 18:03, was the ninth place finisher overall. Amherst’s top five runners all ran sub-19 minute times, and the team took fourth place out of a strong field of five teams.
“Since we were the only Div. III team among four other Div. I teams,” said Reed, “I think we had a solid showing at fourth place.”
The girls raced next at Keene State College, where they were the top team out of 12. Five Jeffs finished in the top 10 overall, and the team won by an overwhelming 60 points. Galleher was the overall winner, posting a time of 18:40.
At the New England Championships in Boston, the women’s team took 12th place out of a field of nearly 50 schools. Galleher was the first Jeff to cross the line, and she was followed by Simeone, Melissa Sullivan ’12, Hallie Schwab ’11 and tri-captain Christina Wong ’11.
“This season has been an opportunity for the team to reinvent itself,” said Schwab. “Sources on the outside had low expectations for us coming in, but we’ve been proving them wrong every week. We’ve shown that we have depth and the ability to perform as a team. It’s an exciting time to be running for Amherst.”
Shannon McKenna ’12 also foresees continued success for the Jeffs.
“I think the season is going extremely well and that we have the potential to do some great things,” said McKenna. “Unlike previous years, our team has sort of slipped under the radar which makes us all the more eager to prove ourselves. Our team has a lot of talent and heart. Many of the women put in a lot of training this summer and it shows. I am very happy and excited to see that people are stepping up when the team needs them to, and the results, so far, have been encouraging. The best is yet to come and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the season brings.”
Nedeau echoed McKenna’s assessment. “The women have been having a tremendous fall surpassing expectations other than their own, and that has been great to see. We have gotten great front running and strong leadership from Sophie Galleher, and others have fed off her work ethic and raised the bars of their own training. The first year runners are having a big impact as well and have been making very nice adjustments to our program.”