Women
The Lord Jeffs were led by a strong showing from first-year Angie Epifano, who ran in the head pack for the entire race, finally taking ninth overall on the six-kilometer course with her time of 23:02, a fantastic showing for a first-year in her first championship race.
Senior Mercedes Taylor followed that leading example taking 12th place with a time of 23:09. Sophomore Sarah Daly, whose time of 23:12 earned her 13th overall.
Next to cross the line for the women was yet another freshman, Jasia Kaulbach, who fought hard to secure 18th place for the women with her time of 23:26. Rounding out the scoring for the women was sophomore Keri Lambert, who ran a time of 23:36 — a whole 50 seconds faster than last her time last year’s time — to take 21st.
Also demonstrating their great improvement during the past year were the rest of the Jeffs’ top seven, sophomore Lauren Almeida and junior Shannon McKenna. McKenna shaved 10 seconds off last year’s time, something that’s not easy to do when you’ve already run it twice, while Almeida improved by more than a minute from when she ran it as a freshman last year.
Middlebury came out victorious in the women’s race overall, but this marks the sixth consecutive year that Amherst has placed in the top three at the ECAC’s. The rest of the fall is championship season, as the ladies will first participate in the regional meet next weekend, bidding for a place in the NCAA’s.
Men
In the men’s eight-kilometer race, it was sophomore Andrew Erskine who served as the Jeffs’ number one, breaking 27 minutes easily and finishing in eighth with his time of 26:25. With the result, Erskine showed a 43-second improvement on his ECAC result from last year. Second for the men was another sophomore, Dillon Buckley, who also broke 27 and took 14th overall with a time of 26:40.
Third for the Jeffs was senior Jack Seaver, who only just missed out on the top 25 as his time of 27:04 landed him in 26th place. First-year Gus Greenstein, running in his first championship event, served as the fourth runner, taking 57th in a time of 27:42. He was closely followed by senior Kevin Hanley, who powered his way to a 62nd-place finish in a time of 27:48 and topped off the scoring for the men.
Rounding out the top seven for the men were junior Alec Jacobson and sophomore Eli Howe. Both men broke the 29-minute mark as well as the top 100, as Jacobson took 92nd with a time of 28:16 and Howe grabbed 98th place with his time of 28:50.
At the final tally, it was the archrival Ephs that took home this year’s men’s ECAC title. But in this, the fifth consecutive year the men have finished in the top six at the ECAC’s, runners across the board showed improvement. All that remains is for them to take their A-game to the regional meet next weekend in the hope to qualify for the NCAA’s.