The women capped their season with a 2nd place finish at the NCAA Championships - losing to Middlebury by 1 point as juniors Heather Wilson 7th and Kim Partee 11th earned All-American accolades and led the team to their best ever NCAA finish. The team won its first ever NESCAC Championship as Kim, Heather and Meg Ray earned All-NESCAC honors, and First Year Sophie Gallaher captured the NESCAC Rookie of the Year (4 years in a row for an Amherst runner). With the Top 6 runners all earning All-NE distinction, the team finished 2nd at the District Qualifying meet - Heather, Senior Shauneen Garrahan, Kim, Sophie, Junior Katie Moravec and Meg all finishing in the Top 30. At the Open NE's, Shauneen led the team to its best ever finish - a 2nd place just behind Nationally ranked at the Division I level, Boston University. At ECAC's, with the top six resting for districts, the team again showed its depth as it captured the championship for the 2nd year in a row as Katie, first year Rachel Cameron, junior Laura Mortimer and sophomores Caitlin Murphy and Nicole Anderson all earned All ECAC honors. Sophomore Elise Tropiano had a huge year for the team, consistently placing in the Top 7.

While the men did not make the trip to NCAA's, the season was a very successful one as we tied our best finish at NESCAC's 3rd, and then duplicated that finish at the ECAC's before finishing 9th at the District qualifier - with first year Daniel Murner earning All NE Honors and just missing an individual spot for NCAA's. Sophomore Harrison Lakehomer led the team for the majority of the meets this season, and became the first Amherst runner to win Little Three's since 1998. Junior Tomas Morrissey battled some injury woes which kept him from repeating his XC success from the year before but was still a factor in the scoring, as was class mate Mike Harbus. Seniors Nate Freese and Cooper Knowlton all spent the entire season running in the Top Seven, while class mate Rob Boley had another great race at ECAC's to earn ALL ECAC honors as did first year harrier Carlyle Eubank. Making some huge improvements throughout the season as they adjusted to the 5 mile distance were first year runners Eric Holaday, Jimmy Swanson, Will Bell and Tommy Anderson. Sophomore Peter Foote factored into the Top 7 before a late season injury slowed progress, and seniors John Babbott and Rich Wilson had solid seasons.

With the women returning their entire NESCAC Championship team and "only" losing All American Shauneen Garrahan to graduation, combined with significant depth behind the scoring 7, they should be poised to have another huge season. Defending their NESCAC title and claiming the 2 titles they did not win last year - the Regional Championship, and most importantly, the National Championship will be the big goals for the season. The team should be led by a Trio of All-Americans - senior captains Kim Partee and Heather Wilson will look to better their Top 15 showings last year, while junior Elise Tropiano made big strides during track and has established herself as one of the best distance runners in the country after earning AA honors in both indoor and outdoor track. Senior Meg Ray could challenge for All-American honors as she missed by only 9 spots last year, and NESCAC Rookie of the Year Sophie Galleher will continue to improve as will seniors Katie Moravec and Laura Mortimer. 2005 NESCAC Rookie of the Year Nicole Anderson and class mates Caitlin Murphy and Zandra Walton all have NCAA experience and should bolster the teams depth and strength this fall. With the returning runners and the strength they possess, it may be hard pressed for any of the first year runners to factor into the scoring, but while Kristen Ballinger, Hallie Schwab and Cara Giaimo should be able to gain experience they could certainly find a way to factor into the scoring and make this team even stronger. Rachel Cameron, Liz Dalton and Nicole Green all have an extra year of experience and will also help to bolster the depth and strength of the team

While the men takes some scoring losses from last year - due to either graduation or decisions to stop running, they still will be returning a very strong corps of runners. A strong fist year class last fall, has matured tremendously and should have a big impact this year as Sophomores Daniel Murner and Carlyle Eubank both ran very well on the track as they ran under 15:10 in the 5k and Daniel winning the DIII New England 10k (to go along with being the highest placing first year at last years XC District meet). Senior Mike Harbus - who is back to full health after struggles last year - will look to close out his XC career on a high note with a trip to the NCAA, while juniors Harrison Lakehomer and Peter Foote should factor heavily into the scoring to try and make that happen. Harrison will look to repeat as Little Three Champion. In addition to Daniel and Carlyle, the sophomore class will have gained valuable experience this past year as Jimmy Swanson, Tom Anderson, Eric Holaday, Will Bell and Willy Sego will provide great depth and could jump into the scoring this fall. Several first year runners have posted great track times to close out their high school careers and will be looking to make an impact at the collegiate level as John McGrail, Peter Harrison, Will Yochum, Ben Mears and Jim Leader are a few of the guys who will look to make a smooth transition to the 5 Mile race distance.

Amy Nedeau begins her sixth season as assistant coach at Amherst College. Amy earned All-American honors while running track and cross country for Boston College, and continues to compete for the Boston Athletic Association. She has competed at the 2000 Olympic Trials in the 1500 and has also competed at the Indoor Track and Cross Country National Championships. Her current personal bests are 56 400m, 2:07 800m, 4:18 1500m, 16:15 5k and 27:30 5 miles. Amy had been an assistant coach at Brandeis University for three seasons before coming to Amherst. In addition to her coaching duties, she is a Fifth Grade Elementary school teacher in Belchertown. Ned and Amy got married in the summer of 2003, and on December 27th, 2005 welcomed Lukas Jay Nedeau into the world of running.

Assistant Coach, Shauneen Garrahan

Shauneen Garrahan joins the coaching staff after a tremendously successful career running for Amherst - one in which she earned recognition at all levels including winning Four National Titles - 3 of them in the same meet, and also earning 15 All-American Honors, New England & NESCAC Athlete of the Year and was honored as one of 9 finalists for the 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year. She has school records in numerous events on both indoors and outdoors, and competed at the USATF National Championships in the Steeplechase in 2007. She will be working with the XC and distance runners, while she continues to train and prepare for the 2008 Olympic Trials in the Steeplechase and has been picked up by Team New Balance for those endeavors.

Assistant Coach, Alison Wade

Alison Wade is an Amherst native and 1998 graduate of Bowdoin College, and joins the Amherst coaching staff after a stint as the assistant women’s cross country and track coach at Tufts University. For four years prior to Tufts, Wade was the assistant women’s cross country coach at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School, where she helped lead the Hurricanes to three state championships. As a Women’s Studies major at Bowdoin, she earned All-NESCAC, All-New England and All-ECAC honors in track and field, and was an Academic All-NESCAC team member for cross country. Wade spend six years working as a web editor for New York Road Runners, and is currently the editor of EliteRunning.com; she is also a professional photographer, with her work appearing in national and international newspapers, as well as Runner’s World, Running Times and New England Runner. Wade earned a master’s degree in sports leadership from Northeastern University in 2007.