Amherst College XC Alumni(ae)

Former ACXC Harriers

This site is a relatively new undertaking, but it is my hope that it will increase the levels of involvement and interest in the program by you, our former runners. In this day and age, it seems as though the web is the best resource for quick and efficient information sharing, and with that in mind, I wanted to create a page that is specifically for the alumni of the program. I would love to hear from you, and specifically, hear about ways that I can set up / design / implement this alumni page so that it is user friendly, and even possibly create a way for people to be able to stay in touch through the page.

XC Notes

March 2008 - Both the men and women's teams were honored with Academic All-American Team Honors. The women were selected as the USTFCCCA Academic Team of the year, as the sported a cumulative GPA of 3.64. The men maintained a GPA of 3.49. Srs Heather Wilson and Meg Ray, and Jrs Caitlin McDermott Murphy and Elise Tropiano earned individual Academic All-American honors while Sr. Florian Recihert, Sophomores Carlyle Eubank and Eric Holaday and First Year Ben Mears earned the honors for the men. Full story

November 19 , 2007 - NCAA Champions! The women took the final step as they won the program's first ever National Championship in a decisive fashion as the Top 7 runners were all in front of every team's 4th runner (if not even higher), while the men finished 12th in the country - their best ever finish.

At the New England Regional Championships at Conn College, both teams made a bit of history. The women put 5 runners in the Top 15, and all seven in the Top 23 to easily win the meet - the first victory at the Regional Championships in program history. In the second race of the day, the men put all 5 runners in the Top 35 (All- New England) and when the dust had settled, they had squeaked out a 1 point victory over Williams to capture their first ever victory at this meet. Not since I have been involved with the program have our men defeated Williams, and I do not know how far it would go back beyond my involvement? Both teams automatically qualified for the National Championships to be held at St. Olaf College in Minnesota on November 17th. We have launched a clothing site for anyone interested in purchasing Amherst XC gear - Alison has been working on it with an on-line company and we have it up and running now, so if you are interested in sporting a variety of Amherst XC clothing items, please check it out at Amherst XC Gear

What we have been working on

1. Alumni newsletter - trying to put on the site every couple of weeks a recap of what we have been doing. Should there be interest, establish an email newsletter list in which members could receive these recaps.

2. Establish an alumni member list, that would also have email addresses (certainly optional) so that others may be able to get in touch with former runners.

3. Reunion Weekend Run - am planning on having a 5k Track & XC Run on Reunion Weekend - running / walking the XC course and having a little breakfast get together afterwards.

4. NESCAC Championships Alumni Run - at Williams College on October 27th at 1:45

5. Increase Alumni Presence with the XC program - trying to get you more involved in numerous ways including cheering the teams on. Our schedule is posted, so you can look and see what meets might be near you and come out and cheer on the team - there is the alumni run at NESCAC's, and for those who live out in the Mid West, we are hoping to have both teams competing at the NCAA's being held at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota on November 17th. Want to do the Reunion run and am also welcome to listen to any ideas about how to do this, or enhance what is being done.

6. Merchandising - Tee Shirts, Sweat Shirts, Long Sleeve Shirts, Polos, Fleece Jackets. We have been working with a vendor - Maax Clothing - and now have a website that you are able to go to directly and order the above items. They all have an Amherst XC logo on the clothing that you would be able to purchase. This is not a fundraising initiative but rather a way to provide opportunities to purchase attire that would identify you with the the program.