Junior Shauneen Garrahan looks to guide the women's team back to the NCAA Championships.

Track Teams Set for 2005-06 Seasons

December 2, 2005

2004-05 - A LOOK BACK
From last year's women's preview "While improving upon last years season would seem almost unthinkable ..." - well the unthinkable happened as the Amherst College women's track and field team bettered its national finishes, posting a third-place finish at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships and nabbing fifth place at the outdoor championships.

The only thing able to slow down senior Carter Hamill was, unfortunately graduation, but before leaving she added two more National Championships (5k Indoors and 10k Outdoors), two more All-America awards, a Penn Relays Championship, Open New England, NESCAC, DIII New England titles and topped it all off with winning the New England's Indoor Performer of the Year. Shauneen Garrahan grabbed her first ever NCAA Championship winning the steeplechase to go along with her runner-up finish Indoors in the Mile and second place finish in the DMR with Carter, Hannah Campbell and Ginger Polich. Lee-Jay Henry, finally making it back to full health after ACL / MCL surgery went out as an All-American as she qualified for the NCAA as the 15th seed and then jumped to a seventh-place finish with a jump nearly 39 feet. She was also a force at the DIII NE Championship meets indoors and outdoors, where she was able to help the team get 3rd indoors and then 2nd outdoors and ended indoors with a school record time in the 55 Hurdles. Margaret Davis won the Open NE's 10k and qualified for, and ran at, her first NCAA Championships where she placed 14th. Ginger Polich had a tremendous season as she grabbed school records in multiple events, and not only earned All-American honors as part of the DMR but also raced the 800 at the NCAA Championships. Heather Wilson won the ECAC 10k to qualify provisionally for the NCAA's, and also broke the 18-minute barrier in the 5k indoors. Hannah, Lyndsey Scott, Julia Rucker and Lee-Jay broke the school record in the 4x400. Krissy Morin won her first DIII New England title in the heptathlon, as well putting her event flexibility to good use at our meets, while Keyonte Sutherland, Julia and Hannah all had excellent season sprinting. Maria Millard grabbed points at DIII NE's in the pentathlon and hurdled solidly for the team, along with Nzingha Tyehemba. Laura Mortimer, Alison Rodriguez and Katie Moravec all had some great races in the distance events.

The men's DMR team of Jack Morgan, Mike Page, Sam Hayman and John Babbott never teamed up until the last chance meet at Trinity and when they did, they served notice that they would be a force as they broke the school record by four seconds and then the next week, grabbed a 3rd place finish at the NCAA Championships. Mike Page won NESCAC and DIII New England's in the steeplechase and then capped his season with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA's to earn his first individual All-American honors. Jack Morgan, in addition to the DMR, raced the 800 at the Indoor NCAA Championships, and during the outdoor season, defended his NESCAC 800 title. Sam Hayman had a breakthrough year as he had a solid indoor culminating with the DMR's third place finish and then significantly lowered his 800 PR through the outdoor season. Another sophomore having an incredible season was John Babbott who lowered marks in every event that he competed in. Tomas Morrissey grabbed freshmen record in the 5k and the 10k outdoors as well as posting PR times indoors in the 3k. Matt Katz posted career bests in multiple events, while earning DIII New England honors in the 5k. Other members of the distance crew - Robert Boley, Mike Harbus, Rich Wilson, Cooper Knowlton, Evan Guiney and Nate Freese - all posted great marks through the course of the season. Jon Ettinger, Geoff Stricsek and Tim Porter raced well in the short and long sprints, while Nick Canevari and Ryan Smith both showed marked improvements in the throwing events, with Nick hitting a DIII NE mark in the discus.

2005-06 - A LOOK AHEAD
The women will be hard pressed to duplicate some of their championship performances of last year - third-place finishes at both the DIII New England's and NCAA Indoor Championships, and a second and fifth at the DIII New England and NCAA Outdoors - as they lose the services of 18 Time All-American and five-time time NCAA Champion Carter Hamill, and All-America jumper Lee-Jay Henry. But when with the return of NCAA Steeplechase Champion and Mile Runner-up Shauneen Garrahan taking the helm, anything could prove to be possible. All-american Ginger Polich proved that she was one of the best middle distance runners last year, and after an injury plagued outdoor season, should be a force this winter and spring in both the 800 and relay events. A strong collection of distance runners should rack up points in the mile and up as senior Margaret Davis looks for a return to NCAA's; a sophomore quartet consisting of Kim Partee, Heather Wilson (NCAA qualifier in the 10k), Katie Moravec and Laura Mortimer all look to improve upon their first year success, while first years Nicole Anderson and Liz Dalton look to make their mark. The sprinters should be able to rack up quite a few point in both relays and open events as DMR All-American Hannah Campbell leads a strong group comprised of Ariel Haney (returning from a track season abroad), co-captain Julia Rucker, Keyonte Sutherland and a strong corps of first years including Lia Tsarnas, Carly Levenson. The mid-distance group will be significantly bolstered by the addition of first years Zandra Walton, Caitlin McDermott-Murphy and Tovah Ackerman, plus the return of Vanessa Sochat. Jenny Mancino will help to strengthen the jumpers, as she will join Maria Millard and Krissy Morin (multi events).

The men lose the services of several All-America runners to graduation, and will feel that impact at the championship meets, but will look to the improvement of several others to help offset those losses. The mid-distance group will probably be the strength of the team as John Babbott and Sam Hayman, both earning All-American status in the DMR last year, will lead Basile Beaty (transfer from Conn College), Rom Cabeza and first years Jack Kiley and Stephen Stewart. The distance runners will be lead by Tomas Morrissey (who will be looking to add the school record in the 10k to his collection) and should receive a lot of help from first year Harrison Lakehomer, seniors Dave Schreiner and Evan Guiney; juniors Cooper Knowlton, Nate Freese, Rob Boley and Rich Wilson as well as with sophomore Mike Harbus. Co-captain Nick Canevari will look to improve upon his throwing success of last year, especially in the discus and javelin. Captain Tim Porter will head the sprint group, as he will look to fare well in the long sprints and be joined by Jon Ettinger, Steve Miller and Geoff Stricsek in the relays, as well as first year Michael Holsey.