Against Div. I and Div. II competition at American International College’s Yellow Jacket Invitational, the men’s and women’s outdoor track teams hurtled into sixth and seventh place, respectively on Saturday.

Women

On the track, sophomore Lauren Almeida and first-year Lisa Walker led the charge for the nine Jeffs competing in the 1,500m, earning a combined three points after finishing in seventh and eighth, respectively. Senior co-captain Susan Wasserman and Amy Dao ’14 cruised into the sixth- and eighth-place finishes in the 800m to garner three points of their own. The women’s team also had a strong showing in the sprints, where Naomi Bates ’14 pulled up in fourth place in the 100m hurdles — despite getting off to a slow start from the blocks — to nab six points for her team. Shyloe Jones ’14 netted three points for the Jeffs with her sixth place finish in the 100 dash.

The Jeffs’ finest race of the day came in the 5,000, where eight Amherst runners squeezed 13 points out of a crowded field.

On the field, Jessica Mueller ’13 and Bates came up huge in the long jump, gaining 14 points for the Jeffs, while Mueller also chipped in with another four points in the triple jump.

Men

“The spikes I wore were three-and-a-half years old,” said first-year Javier Paulino. His set of spikes were, in the words of head coach Erik “Ned” Nedau, “dilapidated.” Ned named Paulino his Performer of the Week after he clocked in at 11.55 in the 100 and 23.27 in the 200— his fastest times at the collegiate level, and the fastest he’s ever run in the 200.

And Paulino’s performance was just one of several gutsy performances by Amherst athletes at the meet: like their female counterparts, the men’s team had their way with the field in the 5,000m, as John McGrail ’11, Andrew Erskine ’13, Dillon Buckley ’13 and Gus Greenstein ’14 earned 18 (of the 39 possible in the race) points for the Jeffs.

In the field, Pierce Kelley ’11, Denzel Duncan ’13 and Jordan Young ’14 all contributed significantly to the Jeffs’ points total, as they managed to capitalize on the reduced competition for those events.

The Jeffs’ next meet is on April 9, for the first of two UMass Invites.