2xAll-American Kim Partee '08 
Most Recent Meet
NCAA National Championships - Nov 17th
Runners of the Meet - Sophie Galleher'10 and Daniel Murner'10
For the first time since 2003, and only the 2nd time in program history, both the men and women headed out to St. Olaf College in Minnesota for the National Championships to run against the best DIII Teams in the country. Waking up to the site of snow flurries was fitting and set the tone for the day. For the women, a seemingly constant reminder of the closest finish in NCAA History - the 1 point loss to Middlebury last year - has served as valuable motivation for the last 365 days and they came to out the past to rest with this race. Having been ranked first all season, and knowing they were the pre-race favorites did not deter them in their efforts. A fall by Kim Partee in the first 200 meters of the race when a large group got tangled up, could have been disastrous but she got up quickly and moved from the back of the pack and got herself back in contention as quickly as she could. Heather Wilson got out well, establishing herself in the Top group of runners by the mile. Elise Tropiano did not get out as quickly and found herself farther back then she ideally should have been but started to work her way through the pack while behind her, Caitlin Murphy, Sophie Galleher, Meg Ray and Nicole Anderson had all gotten out well and had a nice pack that was within a few body lengths. As the race came of the second pond loop, and geared up for the big hill, Heather was in about 10th, Elise was around 25th and Kim had moved to about 40th and Caitlin, Sophie, Nicole and Meg were running around 60th to 90th - with only a few seconds separating each of them. As they came off the hill and headed back to the pond for the final time - around the 3 mile mark - we had moved a little bit with the front 3 runners but were behind both Plattsburg and Wash U, who each had three runners on front of ours. Our 4 - 7 runners had continued to move up, and as we had talked about all week, they knew that they had to come through big if we were to win the the race. In the last portion of the race, Heather had moved into 12th place to earn All-American honors for the 2nd time, Elise moved up to and finished in 22nd, while Kim had climbed all the way back into All-American contention but would ultimately finish 36th - one spot out, but considering what had happened at the start, an incredible accomplishment. With both Plattsburg and Wash U runners maintaining their spots in front of our Top 3, the race would be decided with Murph, Sophie, Nicole and Meg. Murph came by first from the pack - and would finish in 54th, while Sophie, Nicole and Meg would all finish within 11 seconds of each other. More importantly though, was the fact that all 7 of our runners finished in front of every teams 4th runner, and sealed the victory. This was a tremendous team win, as having the 6th and 7th runners displacing every single other team was huge. The outcome was not as obvious as first due to the large packs of people coming in, but when the scores were finally posted, it was a decisive victory and the first ever National Championship for the XC Program. The depth of the team becomes even more evident if you consider that if you had removed our first runner, they still would have won the meet, and scoring the 3-7 runners we would have finished 2nd! Accountability, a huge emphasis for the program, was never more prevalent then here!
The men were looking to capitalize on the momentum from last week's Regional Victory, and in moving up to 12th in the National Rankings were hoping to match that ranking in the team finish. Knowing that our strength could be in the tightness of our scoring pack, they guys put it all on the line. With the sixe of the field, and the depth of talent, they needed to keep in mind not lose sight of where they were in the race as that pack could yield great results without having it be as clear as it would be in smaller races. Daniel Murner got out well and raced up in the Top 75-80 guys as they came down the big hill heading towards the 3m mark out by the pond loop. Carlyle Eubank and Florian Reichert were running with and near each other from the mile on, and both had moved into the Top 100 by the 3m mark. Will Yochum did not get out well, and struggled a little bit with the traffic but was moving up in the race as it got past the 3m mark, with Eric Holaday not far behind. Ben Mears and Mike Harbus raced with each other in the early stages but started to separate from each other as we came back on the athletic field loop for the last 2000m. Daniel continued to move hard in the last 800 as he moved up to 60th overall, and was the 7th NE runner - a big improvement from last week - and was just off from his best time in XC. Carlyle Eubank had his best race of the season as well, as he finished real strong, charging past a slew of people in the last 200meteres to finish 82nd overall and as the 11th NE runner - again, a big step up from last week. Florian Reichert capped out his Amherst XC career with a 98th place finish, and coming in only 4 seconds behind Carlyle. Eric Holaday just missed breaking 26 minutes, as his 26:04 got him 147th and out him as the 21st NE runner, while Will Yochum finished out the scoring with his 155th place finish, just a couple of steps behind Eric. Ben Mears - who along with Will - will gain valuable National Championship experience from this meet. It was a long season for the first year pair, but they had incredible seasons and will come back a lot stronger next year. Mike Harbus closed out his Amherst XC career as the 7th runner on a team, that after the dust had settled, did in fact finish at their ranking in 12th place. This was the best placing by the men in program history, and with 5 runners of the 7 returning next year - all being either sophomores or freshmen - they will look to build upon this year.