Amherst College Track & Field

  

Headlines

Elise Tropiano and Heather Wilson add to Post-Season honors Elise Tropiano and Heather Wilson earned ESPN''s Academic All-Distric Honors Full Story

Kristen Ballinger (800) and Elise Tropiano (Steeplechase and 5k) earn All-American honors Kristen ran 2:10.48 and earned a 6th place finish, while Elise finished 6th in the Steeple and an 8th place in the 5k to highlight the national Championships. Full Story

Peter Harrison (1500), Kristen Ballinger (800), Heather Wilson (10k) and Elise Tropiano (Steeplechase and 5k) ready to compete at NCAA's This foursome will get ready to contend for All-American honors against the best runners in DIII as they head to the University of Wisconsin Osh-Kosh for the DIII National Championships, which get started Thursday May 22nd Meet Website

Harrison (1500), Ballinger (800) and Partee (10k) win thier events at the ECAC's Led by victories in the 800 and 10k, the women placed 4th as a team while Pete Harrison and Jimmy Swanson go 1-3 in the 1500 at the ECAC Championships Full Story

Wilson and Partee's 1-3 finish in the 10k lead the team at All NE's Heather Wilson ran to a new 10k PR to win and Kim Partee finished 3rd to help lead the team to a Top 10 finish while Jimmy Swanson earned All-NE honors in the 1500 at the All New England Championships Full Story

Elise Tropiano named NESCAC Track Performer of the Week As a result of her victory in the steeplechase, and runner-up finish in the 5k - both in NCAA Qualifying times - to help lead Amherst to a runner-up finish at DIII NE's, Elise was named the NESCAC Track Performer of the week Full Story

Record number of victories and a 2nd place finish for the women at DIII New England's 5 victories (800, Steeple, 5k, 10k and 4x400) by the Amherst women - most in team history - and a win in the 800 by Jimmy Swanson highlight the DIII New England's Full Story

School records in the 400 and the 4x400 relay and Seven NCAA Marks highlight NESCAC's Kristen Ballinger anchored the record breaking 4x400 relay atfer having broken the 400 record, Elise Tropiano wins the 10k and Jimmy Swanson and Pete Harrison post fast marks at the NESCAC Championships Full Story

A school record in the Hammer by Sarah Leyman and personal bests galore at the Mid Week Meet Two NCAA qualifying marks, a 21 year old school record taken down and a ton of PR's in numerous events highlight the Mid Week Meet Full Story

Women finish 2nd,and Men 3rd at Little Three's Amherst hosted the annual Little Three meet and got several individual victories from both teams during the course of the meet and exciting 4 x 400 Relay action to finish it off Full Story

Ballinger, Tropiano and Harrison post NCAA Qualifying marks at UMass First years Kristen Ballinger and Peter Harrison each met NCAA Marks in the 800, while Elise Tropiano got a qualifier in the Steeplechase to lead the team at the UMass Invite Full Story

Susie Wasserman, and the Peter's (Harrison and Foote) win at Fitchburg First year Susie Wasserman won the 400 Hurdles and anchored the winning 4x400, while Peter Foote won the Steeplechase and Peter Harrison won the 1500 to lead the team Full Story

Kristen Ballinger and Zandra Walton lead the Oudoor Track season at Trinity First year Kristen Ballinger and Zandra Walton each posted victories at the Bantam Invitational, while Daniel Murner and Jimmy Swanson picked up runner-up finishes to lead the men. Full Story

Heather Wilson and Elise Tropiano earn All-American Honors at NCAA's Elise and Heather each earned All-American honors for their 7th and 8th place fnishes in the 5k Full Story

Heather Wilson and Elise Tropiano to race the 5k at NCAA's Saturday March 15th There is going to be a webcast of the NCAA meet, and Heather and Elise will race the 5k and look to improve upon their All-American finishes from last winter on Saturday at 4:35 Webcast Link

Women's DMR, Daniel Murner and Peter Harrison earn runner up finishes at ECAC's The women's DMR finished 2nd in an NCAA provisional time while Daniel Murner had a huge PR en route to his 2nd place finish in the 3k, and Peter Harrison also grabbed a runner-up spot in the Mile to lead the team at ECAC's Full Story

School records and PR's abundant at Open New England's Carly Levenson grabbed 2 school records - in the 500 and as part of the 4x400 relay (Susie, Mary Doris and Kristen), Heather Wilson won the 5k and Peter Harrison qualified for NCAA's in the Mile to lead the teams at NE's. Full Story

Teams find success at DIII New England's Kim Partee in the 5k and Heather Wilson in both the 3k and then in the DMR along with Elise Tropiano, Jenny Mancino and Kristen Ballinger grab victories at the DIII NE's, while Mike Harbus's 4th place finish in the 3k lead the men. Full Story

The Peter's - Foote and Harrison - and Kim Partee record wins to lead the team at Tufts Peter Foote in the 5k and Peter Harrison in the 3k, along with Kim Partee in the 5k, all grab wins to lead the team at Tufts Full Story

Silverman, Anderson and Holaday record wins at Smith Nicole Anderson led a strong 5k contingent to their best marks ever and Kate Silverman picked up a win in the 400, while Eric Holaday grabbed his first track win in the 3k to lead their respective squads at Smith Full Story

Men and Women come back with PR's from Valentine's Classic Senior Mike Harbus broke 15 minutes in the 5k for the first time, while Elise Tropiano runs under 10 minutes for the 3k to highlight performances at BU Full Story

Teams compete at Tufts Invite Senior tri-captain Basile Beaty's win in the 600 leads the teams at the Tufts Invitational Full Story

Teams compete at Wesleyan Invite Liz Dalton in the 3k along with the DMR team, and Jimmy Swanson in the 1000 post wins to lead the team at Wesleyan Full Story

Tropiano hits NCAA mark at Terrier Elise Tropiano hit an NCAA Provisional mark in the 5k at Terrier Full Story

Season kicks off at the Husky Carnival Caitlin Murphy won the mile while Rom Cabeza placed 3rd in the 800 to lead the teams at the Husky Carnival held at the Reggie Lewis Track in Boston Full Story

NCAA Woman of the Year Shauneen Garrahan is selected as one of Nine Finalist for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Full Story

Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd features Shauneen Garrahan Full Story

 

Welcome to the home page of the Amherst College Men's and Women's Track & Field Team. We hope that you find the newly designed website both a source of information and enjoyment. The site is updated regularly, so it should be easy to keep informed as to what is happening with the Lord Jeff's program at all times. Team members, parents and family, prospective students, alumni, or anyone interested in track in general should be able to find a wealth of information here. Enjoy yourselves! 

*** 2008 Reunion Run Results ***

Most Recent Meets

 

NCAA's - May 22nd - 24th

A contingent of four athletes headed out to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to compete in the NCAA DIII Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 22-24. Peter Harrison ’11 (1500m prelims) and Heather Wilson ’08 (10,000m final) competed on day one of the meet. Harrison wound up in the slower of the two 1500 heats, with the top four in each heat, plus the runners with the next four fastest times advancing. Harrison kept himself in the hunt until 200 meters to go, but when the mad dash for the finish line began, he just didn’t have the extra gear that some of his competitors had. He finished in 3:58.93, .63 of a second away from advancing to the final. Though the outing was a disappointing one for Harrison, it was also a tremendous learning experience. He was one of two first-years in the field, and he potentially has a big future ahead of him. Heather Wilson, on the other hand, was an NCAA veteran running the final race of her collegiate career. The initial pace in the 10,000m was one that Wilson was comfortable with, and she wound up leading for much of the race in an effort to stay out of trouble in the pack. With approximately two miles to go, Wilson fell off the pace, for no discernable reason. She faded to finish 14th in 36:55.79. Though it was a disappointing outing for Wilson and a rough note to end on, she will be remembered at Amherst for her great running accomplishments (including being a five-time All-American), her great leadership qualities, her level-headedness, and her toughness. Wilson was also eligible to compete in the 5000, but she had opted to attend graduation weekend activities instead. She caught a flight out early on Friday morning and made it home in time to graduate on Sunday.

Day two of the meet was a more encouraging one for the Amherst contingent. Kristen Ballinger ’11 ran a huge race in the 800 prelims, PRing by nearly two full seconds (and therefore breaking the school and freshman records by nearly two full seconds), winning her heat in 2:10.48. Ballinger went from fourth place to first in the last 100 meters of the race, and had the fastest qualifying time of the day. Though he’s not an Amherst athlete, it’s also worth noting that Ballinger’s brother, Tom, a junior at Carleton, made the final of the 400 hurdles the previous day. This meant that the Ballinger family would get to watch Kristen and Tom run in back-to-back finals on Saturday. The next event up was the steeplechase final. A competitor from Dickinson took the race from the gun, and she ran unchallenged throughout. Elise Tropiano ’09 ran at the front of the chase pack for much of the race, but was unable to separate herself from enough of the field to pull away. She ran a competitive race throughout, but hoped to have a little bit more left in the final 600 meters but got her legs tangled coming off the barrier and lost a little focus as a result. She wound up an impressive sixth in a PR of 10:35.78 and earned All-America honors.

Ballinger and Tropiano were back in action on the third and final day of the meet—Ballinger in the 800m final, and Tropiano in the 5000m final. Ballinger, one of just two freshmen in the final, showed that she wasn’t intimidated by the situation by taking the lead on the first lap, setting the race up to be blazing fast – 62 seconds for the first 400. She faded in the third 200, and going around the final turn, everyone in the field had passed her. That was when Ballinger turned on her trademark finish. She caught three of her competitors coming up the homestretch, and finished sixth in 2:10.95, what would have been a PR were it not for the previous day’s race. Shortly after, Tom Ballinger took seventh in the 400 hurdles, giving the Ballinger two All-American finishes in the span of about 30 minutes. Tropiano, showed off her ability to bounce back well by competing in the 5000m final less than 24 hours after running her steeplechase PR. While a large lead pack took off at a pace that none of the runners would wind up maintaining throughout, Tropiano opted for a more conservative strategy, running about 3-4 seconds behind the leaders through the first mile. As runners began to fall off the back of the pack, she worked on picking them off. She worked her way up to ninth place, and then out-kicked a competitor to take the final All-American spot, finishing eighth in 17:07.17, completing an impressive All-American double.

 

 

Upcoming Meet

We will be back in December of 2008 but this year's track season has concluded. Have a great summer!

 

 

 

 

Photos by Alison Wade Eliterunning.com