Women
The women’s team finished in fourth place of 47 teams, trailing only MIT, Middlebury and Williams Colleges. However, the Jeffs will be advancing to the National Championships with an at-large bid, thanks to the strong performances of their top seven runners on Saturday.
Leading the Jeffs as she has all season long, Sophie Galleher ’10 completed the six-kilometer course in 22:14, earning 14th place overall. A strong pack of Amherst runners followed right behind Galleher, as team members claimed 17th, 18th and 23rd places. First-year Ali Simeone crossed the line in 22:19 and Melissa Sullivan ’12 finished less than one second later. Hallie Schwab ’11, improving her time by nearly two minutes from last year’s Regional meet, was Amherst’s fourth finisher with a time of 22:29. Rounding out the scoring for the Jeffs was junior Mercedes Taylor, whose 23:06 time earned her 44th place out of over 300 runners.
First-year runners Sarah Daly and Keri Lambert took sixth and seventh places for the Jeffs and earned 48th and 80th places, respectively, in the large overall field.
Head coach Erik Nedeau considered the race a success for the women, saying, “Despite lingering effects from flu-like symptoms earlier in the week from a couple of the women, the team was able to step up again and deliver.”
The team qualified for Nationals for the seventh consecutive year, and that is clearly worth celebrating. However, every one of Nedeau’s athletes realizes that the most important race of the season is still to come.
Said Sullivan, “Everyone had pretty solid races today, but I think we all are capable of better races than we had at Regionals. We went into the meet with the goal of qualifying for Nationals and we did what we had to do, but we’re really excited about getting to race one more time. At the beginning of the season, we set a goal of qualifying for Nationals as a team and we’ve been moving up in the rankings every week.”
The team’s rankings have steadily improved all season long, and its fourth-place finish in the Regional field of 47 teams certainly backs up its impressive reputation. Look for the Jeffs to run hard one last time next Saturday, Nov. 21, in the National Championship meet. The race will be at 11 a.m. at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.
Men
Finishing in second place behind Williams College, the men of Amherst’s cross country team automatically earned a ticket to next weekend’s National Championship race. Braving the wet and rainy conditions at Saturday’s Regional meet, the men totaled 104 points — nearly 30 points less than the score of third-place Keene State College.
Daniel Murner ’10 took second place in the men’s eight-kilometer race. With a time of 25:16, Murner trailed overall winner Edgar Kosgey of Williams College by less than one second. Junior Will Yochum claimed fifth place overall in 25:29, and Steve Corsello ’11 took 19th place in 25:58. Just over 20 seconds later, seniors Jimmy Swanson and Eric Holaday crossed the line to take 38th and 40th places, respectively. Amherst’s sixth and seventh runners, John McGrail ’11 and Kit Callahan ’10, effectively displaced several runners from the opposing teams and helped secure the second-place finish for the Jeffs.
Nedeau said, “In the final downhill stretch, the Williams runner [Kosgey] made a move that seemed to open a gap, but Murner was not done and kicked back to Kosgey’s shoulder. They battled to the wire, with Murner grabbing second — the best Amherst finish since Rob Mitchell’s victory in 1997.”
“This team is pretty tough,” said Murner. “All year we have been plagued by sickness and injury, but we always find a way to get the job done. If we can do this one more time, I think we will surprise people at Nationals.”
The men’s team will be heading to the National meet for the third consecutive year. It will race next Saturday at Baldwin-Wallace College at noon.