Men
Getting the Jeffs off to a comfortable start, junior Kevin Hanley earned second place in the five-kilometer race, finishing ahead of 14 opponents with a time of 16:19.34. Three Amherst runners followed up the 5k with a podium sweep in the one-mile run, as Will Yochum ’11, Daniel Murner ’10 and Andrew Erskine ’13 took first, second and third places, respectively. Yochum’s winning time of 4:13.79 was a provisional NCAA qualifying time.
Hanley, who was able to watch the milers compete after his own race, said, “I believe the most dominant performance of the day was Yochum with his NCAA provisional qualifier in the mile. Murner and Erskine chased him, helping him to keep pushing. For people watching at the meet, I’m sure the race looked slow because Yochum and Murner look so smooth as racers, but anyone who was timing could see that this was an awesome performance.”
Sophomore Andrew Reed placed fourth in the 400-meter run, running a 51.63. Following him in fifth and sixth place were juniors Tommy Moore and Andre Gary, who ran times of 51.70 and 51.73, respectively.
“The meet was a very successful one, as we tested ourselves and pushed each other to achieve great times,” said Reed. “It was a good stepping-stone for next weekend’s meet at BU [Boston University], which we are all super excited for.”
The Jeffs also dominated the 600-meter run, as senior Kit Callahan placed first in 1:25.32. Junior Ryan Drost crossed the finish line two spots and two seconds later in 1:27.19.
Several cross country runners competed in the middle-distance events, proving that they can compete on the indoor circuit as well as on outdoor terrain. Junior Steve Corsello ran the 800-meter event in 1:55.76, winning the race and finishing four seconds ahead of senior and fourth-place finisher Will Bell. Yochum and senior Jimmy Swanson finished second and third in the 1,000, and Carlyle Eubank ’10 won the 3,000-meter event by a landslide in 8:51.94.
The men will race again on Saturday in the Valentine Classic at Boston University.
Women
The women of the Amherst indoor track team also performed well in several events. The mile race, in particular, was a high point of competition for the Jeffs. First-years Ali Simeone and Lauren Almeida placed second and third in the race. Simeone’s time of 5:16.76 was just two seconds behind the winning time of 5:14.60. Also finishing in under five and a half minutes was first-year Sarah Daly, who ran a Div. III New England-qualifying time of 5:29.45.
Fueled by the winning expectations of her hometown Saints football team, senior Mary Doris Reggie won the 600-meter run in 1:39.60. Fellow senior Susan Wasserman took second place in the event just .53 seconds later.
The next event was the 800-meter run, which first-year Keri Lambert won in 2:22.41— three seconds ahead of sophomore Eliza Schalch, who placed third of 14.
First-place victories were also earned by sophomore Melissa Sullivan in the 1,000-meter event and by the 4x400 and 4x800-meter relay teams. Winning the meet, the Jeffs placed 10 points ahead of second place Worcester State, and dominated the large field of squads that included Smith, Wellesley and Mount Holyoke Colleges.
Laura Zaccagnino ’12, whose 19:29.74 earned her third place of 12 in the 5,000 meter event, said, “We got in some good racing close to Amherst, with several girls running qualifier times for DIIIs and ECACs down the road. We’ve been racing and working out pretty hard all season, so hopefully the times will just continue to improve as we head into the championship meets.”
The women will have one more opportunity to race before the championship meets commence. They will compete on Friday in the Valentine Classic at Boston University.