01indnotes

2003-04 Indoor T & F Meet Notes

Click on the (Student Article) for the article in the school paper
Most recent meets appear first, scroll down for our past meets and their respective write-ups.

Men's Indoor Depth Chart & Women's Indoor Depth Chart

NCAA - March 12th

At the National Championships at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, both teams came away with some tremendous results. Carter Hamill won her second National Championship as she ran away with the 5000m, opening up a near straight-away lead in the opening lap, and was never challenged as she cruised to a 30 second victory running 16:46 - a new track record. She passed through the opening mile in 5:10 and then put the race in cruise control as she hit comfortable splits from there on out to try and conserve energy for her 1200 leg of the Distance Medley 40 minutes after. Aly Venti, was in the chase pack through 2 mile before fading in the last couple of laps to finish 12th in her first ever track appearance at NCAA's. In the DMR, the team got a great leadoff leg from Carter, who despite having raced 5k 40 minutes earlier, got the stick to Ariel Haney in second place. Ariel, despite racing on a heavily taped sprained ankle, ran a great 400 leg as she made a huge move coming into her 2nd lap to take the lead and handed off to Ginger Polich with a slight lead. Ginger, proved that her 2 second PR from last week was not a fluke, pushed the pace through the first 3 laps before being passed by a UW Osh-Kosh runner on her last lap, but was able to keep things very close with her 2:18.5 leg and hand off to Shauneen Garrahan for the final leg. Shauneen ran with the Osh-Kosh miler through an opening 2:24 for the first 800 and distancing herself from the rest of the field, and finished strong to knock off 5 seconds from the school record and grab a runner-up finish. In the team scoring, the Amherst women tied for 7th place overall, their best ever finish.

The distance medley relay team of Jack Morgan, Janak Chandrasoma, Dave Molina and Mike Page went out seeded 8th, and were determined to earn their first ever All-American awards. A rough, bumpy, push and shove kind of race was not what Dave was looking for but that was what he got, and he managed to race strong and hand off close to the leaders. Janak ran the 400 leg, and raced great and kept things close for Jack in the 800. Jack got the stick in 9th, and moved quickly, as he opened up in 53 seconds for the first 400 and then went through the 600 in 1:21 as he moved up through the field and handed off to Mike in 6th place as he split 1:52.7. Mike raced a great 1600, going through early splits of 61 and 2:05 and then had a big last lap kick to bring the team into 6th place with a lunging dive at the finish, and secure the finish. This was the first ever All-American performance for an AMherst men's team.

ECAC's - March 5-6
(Student Article) The team headed north to Bowdoin for the ECAC Championships - the last meet of the year for those without a National mark, Dan the last chance for some to get those marks to extend their season by another weekend at the National Championships in Wisconsin. The women's DMR team, with a change in personnel from last week's team, looked to run away from the competition and secure a spot for next weekend. Carter Hamill and Shauneen Garrahan book ended the team, but Ariel Haney and Ginger Polich would work the middle sections of the race. Carter handed off the baton in a close second place, then Ariel ran the 400 leg and her split of 59 seconds kept us right on the shoulder of the leader as she handed off to Ginger, who despite limited running this winter due to injury, ran her best ever 800 split to hand off the baton at the same time as the Cortland runner, and then after taking about 3 steps, Shauneen put the race away for good and they ran to a new school record of 11:57.20. The men's team of Dave Molina, Janak Chandrasoma, jack Morgan and Mike Page had a solid time coming into the race, but need to keep a very competitive field behind them to help secure a berth at Nationals. Dave Molina took the lead in the first 100m of the race and blew it wide open, as the rest of the guys raced unchallenged throughout the race Dan won by 6 seconds in setting a new facility record. After the weekend of racing, their time from last weekend would secure them a spot at Nationals!

The 2nd day of competition saw some impressive marks, as Carter got things started with a little speed tune-up for next weekend by grabbing a runner-up finish in the 1500 and broke the school record by over a second. Shauneen, perhaps fueled by the loss of a school record, went out and took one back as she powered through the 1000 in a very impressive meet record of 2:54.78 to handily win that and break a 2 year old record by over 2 seconds. Ariel and Lyndsey Scott both cleared 5 - 01.25 in the high jump, just missing grabbing All-ECAC honors, while Alison Rodriguez finished a great indoor season by just missing All-ECAC by one place. The 4x400 relay of Lyndsey, Julia Rucker, Ariel and Shauneen grabbed 9th place, and got a big PR leg out of Julia.

the 1500 was the first event for the guys, and Mike Page had a strong race in the first section as he dipped under 4:00 for the first time, and then watched as teammate John Stanton-Geddes had his best race in a long time as he took command of the race in the last 2 laps and nearly grabbed the win, before getting passed in the last few meters, but still finished 4th - Page would wind up 5th. Dave Molina and Andy Schneider raced in the oversized 1000 field, and despite the pushing and shoving, managed to clear out some running room and grab 3rd and 7th respectively. Dave Schreiner, despite not having raced in 2 weeks, competed extremely well and finished off his tremendously improved season with a 5th place in the 3k. The 4x400 team of Janak, Jack, Jon Ettinger and Sam Hayman had a solid race despite literally running into some other teams who had dropped their baton in front of them. The 4x800 team of Stanton-Geddes, Schneider, Molina and the fresh John Babbott had plenty of competition from other teams with four fresh legs, and despite being tired from previous races, they raced well enough to grab a 5th place with Babbott nearly breaking 1:58.

Open New England's - Feb 27-28
(Student Article) Competing against the best schools and individuals in New England, and on one of the finest tracks, both teams posted very impressive marks and several school records were broken in the process. The women, continuing their stellar team showing, bettered their previous best finish as they finished 11th overall with 27 points. Carter Hamill led the 3000m from the very start, and set a new school record time in the process, as she defended the title that she first won as a freshman. IN the same race, following close behind in a chase pack of three women, was Aly Venti who used a strong finish to grab a 3rd place and bettered her previous best time by 8 seconds, to run the 2nd fastest 3k in the country. Shauneen Garrahan continued her successful first year of racing as she destroyed the former school record in the mile by 6 seconds to grab a 4th place finish and qualify provisionally for NCAA's. Ariel Haney, not wanting to be left out of the school record hunt, raced to a new 400 record on 59.02 to finish 15th overall. The DMR team of Carter, Lyndsey Scott, Aly and Shauneen raced to an NCAA provisional mark, just missing the school record while placing 6th. In the 4x800, despite having two runners - Carter and ALy - who had just run the 3000m, got a great lead off leg from Ginger Polich to set the tone and Shauneen was able to crank out a 2:19 to help the team grab 6th place in their fastest time of the year. The 4x400 relay of Lyndsey, Ariel, Monica Westin and Julia Rucker knew that they need to hit the mark for ECAC's, and did so easily as they raced to a seasonal best time of 4:04 and got Pr splits from Monica and Julia and then a huge anchor leg from Ariel to ensure their entry for ECAC's.

The men knocked over 3 seconds from the old school record in the Distance Medley Relay and qualified provisionally for NCAA's. Dave Molina got things started whit a solid 1200m leg in which he led for nearly the entire leg before handing off to Janak Chandrasoma, who ran his best ever time indoors to keep the team on pace before handing off to jack Morgan for the 800 leg. Despite getting the baton in 3rd, Jack closed the gap over the first 400, then made a big move to take the lead and handed off the baton to Mike Page after running to a big PR. Page pushed the pace and was able to bring home the stick in a new record time and a 4th place finish overall. Mike was not done with the weekend, as he raced to a 14 second PR in the 3000 on Saturday and finished 2nd in the unseeded section and 10th overall, after running the fastest D3 time in New England this season, and one of the fastest 3k's in the country. He then ran second leg on the 4x800 relay, joining with John Stanton-Geddes, Jack and Dave to run to their best time of the season and finish 9th. The 4x400 relay of Janak, Kevin O'Doherty, Jon Ettinger and Sam Hayman, knew that they needed to race under the ECAC mark to be able to get one more weekend of racing and after solid legs by Janak and Kevin, they got a Jon's fastest 400 ever, and then Sam brought the stick home in his fastest time of the year to ensure they would race next weekend. John Stanton-Geddes finished 16th overall in the mile, as he raced to his fastest mark of the year.

DIII New England's - Feb 21st
(Student Article) Both teams rolled into the championship season with a purpose, and showed a lot of teams that their talent and heart were going to be a force to be reckoned with. The teams were split, as the women competed at MIT while the men traveled up to Bowdoin for their meet. The women, while small in numbers, were mighty in fight as they surpassed their prior best finish (5th) handily as they grabbed the 3rd place plaque with an outstanding team performance. The day started and finished the same - with a relay victory anchored by Shauneen Garrahan - and in between their were some extremely impressive and gutsy performances. The DMR team of Aly Venti, Lyndsey Scott, Ginger Polich and Shauneen not only destroyed their competition by over 30 seconds to easily win, but they were already lapping teams in the middle of the second leg. Carter Hamill, maybe inspired by the relay's big win or maybe by her showdown whit one of the country's top distance runners, Caroline Cretti of Williams, did not wait long to show others that she is focused on winning a national title as she took the lead after two laps and raced to a solo win, smashing the meet record by 30 seconds and running her second fastest 5k ever. The women's 4x200 relay of Lee-Jay Henry, Julia Rucker, Ariel Haney and Lyndsey, running out of the slowest section, grabbed crucial points as they finished 5th, and then would race together again near the end of the meet, when every point became critical and would grab a 6th place finish, with a big anchor leg by Ariel to win their section. Aly Venti, tired after her DMR leg, came back in the 1500 and had a strong finish to grab a 3rd place finish and her best time of the year. Ariel, using the 4x200 as a good warm-up for her 400, had another strong finish and nearly broke 60 seconds to grab 5th place. Lyndsey, in between running relays, found time to grab point in the High Jump, nearly breaking her record in the process. Shauneen came back in the 1000, and racing against one of the top runners in the country in Jenn Campbell of Williams, made a strong move late in the race to run away from the field and grab the in by over a second. In the 3000, Ali Rodriguez continued her tremendous improvement as she knocked off another 10 seconds from her PR to race to a 10:45, while Erinn White finished just behind her. Knowing that they were in a tight battle for the 3rd place trophy in the team competition, the 4x800 relay of Ginger, Carter, Aly and Shauneen knew that a win would be essential and they did not disappoint, as they got a great leg from Ginger to start things off and rolled with the momentum and Shauneen crossed the line with the 9:33 victory, and the unexpected - but very pleasant -3rd place finish!

The men capped their day with a dominating win in the 4x800 as Dave Molina, John Babbott, Andrew Schneider and Jack Morgan got out in front right from the beginning and were never challenged, as Babbott ran a 1:58 leg - his first time under 2 minutes to blow the lead wide open, and their time was a new Bowdoin facility record. Mike Page grabbed 3rd place in the 5000 in a hotly contested battle and, in the process, broke the school record that had stood since 1984 as well as making a provisional mark for Nationals. Jack Morgan grabbed a 4th place in the 800, as he cranked a very fast opening 3 laps and held on to run to his best ever time, while Andy Schneider finished in the same position in the 1000m, as he led for the first 3 laps and raced tough in the last 2 laps and was just off his time from the week before. Dave Schreiner continued his phenomenal racing this season as he fought all the way through, and wound up grabbing 6th place and All-New England honors and again lowered his PR. Dave Molina had a great race in the slower section of the 1500, and finished 7th overall in a new PR, just missing breaking 4 minutes, while John Stanton-Geddes would finish 14th. Janak Chandrasoma raced as tough as he has at any point this year in the 400 and ran 51:41 and placed 10th. IN the 4x400, the team of Joaquin Walker, Jon Ettinger, Sam Hayman and Janak raced extremely well as they finished off real well after a little confusion at the start, and got season best splits from the last three guys, and now hope to get one of the last spots for this weekend's meet at BU.

Valentine Classic, Fast Track Invite and Tufts Invite #3 - Feb 13th and 14th
(Amherst Student) This was the last regular season meet for the team, as we head into the championship portion of the season next weekend. For some it was a final tune-up for the bigger meets, for some it was a last chance to hit a qualifying standard and for others, it was the time to put their training to the test and finish the season with PR's. A trio of women headed to Boston UNiversity on Friday night to compete in the Valentine Classic. Carter Hamill and Shauneen Garrahan raced in the 3000 to get the night under way. Going through mile splits of 5:07 and 5:12 respectively, they both were going after fast times. The race was won by a 2 time Irish Olympian, but both girls raced extremely well and their efforts were well rewarded as Carter finished 3rd overall, and lowered her school and personal record by 15 seconds to run a 9:38 - one of the fastest times ever run by a Division III runner - while Shauneen knocked 5 seconds off of her PR to run 9:51 and finish 7th. Aly Venti made her debut in the 5k both fast and memorable. Locking herself into the chase pack, she passed through the first mile in 5:20 then hit the 3k in 10:05 and 2 Miles in 10:45 before getting her heel clipped by a runner and knocking her out of her shoe. Despite missing one of her spikes for the last 4 laps of the race, she was able to break the 17:00 barrier, running the 2nd fastest time in the country and qualify automatically for the Nationals.

A handful of the guys went to BU on Saturday to compete at the Fast Track Invitational in search of fast times and they got what they hoped for. Andrew Schneider had a breakthrough race for him, as he got out well in the 1000 and was able to race comfortably and raced to a new PR and get his qualifying standards met for the remainder of the year. Jack Morgan raced the first section of the 800, and despite some bumping early on, he raced well as he moved through the pack and just missed winning his section in a fast time. Dave Molina raced in the next 800 section, and he went to the front of the race early on and pounded the field as he went through 1:24 for the 600m and had opened a huge lead on the rest of the field and wound up winning the development race in a new 800 PR of 1:56.38. Janak Chandrasoma, despite interviewing with 14 firms earlier in the day, was able to find a little reserve of energy to run a strong 400m in his fastest tie of the year. John Stanton-Geddes got his qualifying mark in the Mile as he finished 4th in his section, just missing cracking 4:20. Mike Page finished up the day - night more precisely - with a strong run in the 5k. Going through the first mile in 4:40 and the 3k in 8:46 and the 2 Mile in 9:21 he set himself up in great position, but perhaps the cold that caused him to miss the meet last weekend, sapped just enough energy that he fell off the pace whit 4 laps to go but still ran 14:56 - the first Amherst runner to break 15 minutes in the 5k indoors in the last 10 years.

The majority of the team competed at Tufts n Saturday and got some great results. Lyndsey Scott won a loaded - and very drawn out and long - high jump competition by clearing 5-01.75, with Ariel Haney finishing 3rd. The two combined with Monica Westin and Julia Rucker to cap the day with another victory as they easily won the 4x400 relay. Alison Rodriguez not only grabbed 4th ion the 3000, but she lowered her personal best by over 10 seconds and raced well under 11:00 minutes to qualify for the NE Championships. Ariel, in between high jumping and running relay legs, also had a great run in the open 400m as she grabbed 3rd and just missed breaking 60 seconds. Lee-Jay Henry returned to hurdling after 2 years off and grabbed 8th place, just missing the NE standard. Ginger Polich, nursing an injury and cross training all winter, returned to the track for the first time and ran a great 800, as Monica set the pace early on and both runners put up great times.

The men got their day started by watching Dave "Flea" Schreiner run a great 3000 that would not only earn him 4th place, but also lower his PR by 10 seconds and ht the standard for DIII NE's and ECAC's as he continued with his outstanding season. IN the same race, Nate Freese and Rich Wilson also lowered their best times of the season. John Babbott spent a lot of time in the outside lanes jockeying for position in his 800, and despite a hard charge at the end just missed breaking 2 minutes as he grabbed 4th place. Sam Hayman led an Amherst 5,6, 8 finish as he and Kevin O'Doherty raced to their best times of the season with Timmy Porter just missing his best mark. Joaquin Walker led the first 300m of the 400 but the cold that has plagued him during the week seemed to haunt him in the finishing stages of the race, but he was able to hold onto 6th. Jon Ettinger cracked the 40 foot mark in the triple jump for the first time this season, and also raced on the 3rd place 4x400 relay along with Sam, Tim and John. Billy McNitt, looking for the cracking of the elusive 3:00 barrier in the 1000m accomplished it as he raced to a new PR by 5 seconds running 2:56. Geoff Stricsek had his best race of the year in the 200 to finish his season, and Paul Whiting ran his best 200 of the season, along with a relay leg later in the day to finish up with his indoor season before heading on to his 3rd sport - baseball.

Tufts Invite #2 - Feb. 7th
(Amherst Student) Both teams headed back to Tufts, this time for a scored invitational against 15 other teams. Despite the smaller numbers of the squad, the quality showed as both teams got outstanding results and performances. The women book ended the meet with wins, as Carter Hamill comfortably cruised to a win in the 3000 going under 10 minutes without breaking a sweat, and the women's 4 x 800 relay of Monica Westin, Helen Dole, Aly Venti and Shauneen Garrahan easily outdistanced the rest of the competition to win the final event of the day. Shauneen grabbed a new school record and a provisional qualifying mark in the 1500 as she followed the early leading of Carter before striking out on her own. Aly Venti raced well despite taking her share of bumps, and in the earlier section, Alison Rodriguez had a nice breakthrough as she lowered her PR by nearly 5 seconds. Helen Dole had a monster day as she crushed her 1000 PR, and grabbed a runner-up finish - out of the early section - before running a strong leg in the relay. Ariel Haney and Lyndsey Scott, though in separate heats, finished in the 3rd and 4th in the 400 as both went under 62 seconds. Lee-Jay Henry is quickly returning to form in the sprints, and Julia Rucker added a quick 200 to her day, in addition to another strong leg in the 4x400, where she, Ariel, Lyndsey and A-Rod grabbed 7th. Erinn White grabbed points in the 3000, as she ran to her best time of the season thus far, and Monica grabbed 8th place with a strong run in the 600m.

The men were led by Dave Schreiner's breakthrough race in the 5k, where he not only grabbed 2nd place but lowered his PR by nearly 20 seconds to run 15:37. Dave Molina, racing his first ever 1000m, continued to show the depth of the mid-distance crew as he ran to a 3rd place finish and team leading time. IN the earlier heat, John Babbott led for the entire race and just missed hitting the mark for DIII New England's but did grab 8th. Jack Morgan grabbed a 3rd place finish in the 600, dropping down to work on speed, while Tim Porter had his best race of the season in one of the earlier sections. The 4x400 team of Joaquin Walker, Sam Hayman, Janak Chandrasoma and Jack raced to their best time of the season as they grabbed 6th place. The B 4x400 also had good results as Timmy, Molina, Babbott and Andrew Schneider posted a solid mark. IN the 3000, Nate Freese had a nice breakthrough as he pushed the pace in the last 4 laps and knocked off nearly 20 seconds from his best time of the season, while Evan Guiney ran to his best time of the year in the same heat. In the later section, Cooper Knowlton cracked the 9:15 mark with a strong race. Andrew Schneider got bumped around heavily at the start of the race and played catch-up for the remainder of the 800 but was able to grab a 5th finish. Jon Ettinger had a strong race in the 400, and Sam and Janak raced each other all the way to the finish line in their section of the 400. Billy McNitt smashed another 5 seconds off his 1500 PR, and also set his new 1000 PR en route to the finish.

Terrier Classic & Wesleyan Invite #2 - Jan 30th and 31st
(Student Article) The weekend started for three of the distance women on Friday at the Terrier Classic held at Boston University. Shauneen Garrahan and Aly Venti raced the 3k, and as if it were a workout, they helped push each other throughout the race, going through the mile in 5:17 and keeping the hammer down throughout the last laps to both easily break the 10:00 barrier, as they ran 9:56 and 9:57 - huge PR's for both. Carter Hamill would step to the line moments later in the 5000, and racing against a 2 Time Olympian, and a slew of Division I All-Americans, she would have her work cut out for her. Hitting the first mile in a very fast 5:13, she set herself up in the middle of the chase pack and stayed relax as she continued to turn in 40 second laps, as she hit the 3k in 9:53 and 2 Miles in 10:34, then hit the 3 Mile mark in 15:56 and hammered home the last lap to run 16:32.45. The time smashed her own school record by 34 seconds, her all-time PR by 13 seconds, and is the 7th fastest 5k (indoors and outdoors combined) ever run by a DIII runner and is one of the fastest 5k times ever run Indoors by a DIII Runner.

The rest of the team headed to Wesleyan on Saturday to compete against a large field of teams and solid competition. The women, while small in numbers, made their presence felt as they came away with a win in the 4x400 as Lyndsey Scott, MOnica Westin, Julia Rucker and Ariel Haney blew away the competition. In the first event of the day, Ariel and Lyndsey finished 1-2 in the High Jump with both of them clearing the bar at 5-02 - a new school record. Erinn White grabbed runner-up honors in the 5k as she raced well under 19 minutes in her first crack at the distance this winter, and finishing in the same spot but in the 3000m, was Ali Rodriguez who had one of her best ever races indoors as she nearly broke into the 10 minute range. Helen Dole had a great race in the 1000 to grab 5th place, and Monica Westin grabbed 7th in the 800. Lee-Jay Henry returned to the track after a a year off due to knee surgery and should make rapid improvements.

The men capped their day with a thrilling victory in the 4x800, as the team of Andrew Schneider, John Babbott, Jack Morgan and Dave Molina held off a tough Coast Guard team to finish the day with a win and posting a great time. The event before, the 4x400 relay, was equally exciting as our A Team again we dueled with Coast Guard in a down to the wire contest as Janak Chandrasoma, Jon Ettinger, Sam Hayman and Joaquin Walker showed that they will be a force as the championships approach. The B relay team of Paul Whiting, Tim Porter, Kevin O'Doherty and Rich Wilson had a battle of their own as they got the win of their section at the line, holding off the team from Hunter College. Mike Page grabbed a win in the 1500, leading Dave Molina who finished 3rd, and would come back later to grab a 4th place in the 1000 for good measure. Jack Morgan made a huge move at the 1/2 way mark and pulled away to a decisive win in the 800, and John Babbott made a huge breakthrough for himself as he raced super tough and grabbed 5th place and barely missed breaking 2:00. Dave Schreiner grabbed a runner-up spot in the 3k with a great performance, while Andrew would copy that finish in the 1000 as he led for nearly the entire race before getting passed in the waning stages of the race. Cooper Knowlton made his 5k debut and grabbed 3rd place and has his sight set on breaking 16 minutes in his next attempt. Sam Hayman and Kevin O'Doherty had strong races in a very tight 600 that was run from a stagger rather then in lanes, and made positioning difficult - as evidenced by the gaping wound on Kevin's leg after the race!

Tufts Invite I - Jan 24th
(Student Article) Both teams capped the intersession period with a strong showing in the large invitational at Tufts University's Gantcher Center. The past 2 and a half weeks, the teams have been doing double sessions nearly each week day as we had the winter intersession break - no scheduled classes - and now with the intersession over and classes resuming, the teams will shift back into the more traditional one session a day practices, and start to focus on speed as opposed to the strength aspect that we have been. The women were led by Carter Hamill's win in the 1500 as she led wire to wire without so much as a challenge as she cruised to an NCAA Provisional mark, and will look forward to a fast 5k this coming weekend at the Terrier Invite. She led off the Distance Medley relay, consisting of Ariel Haney in the 400, Aly Venti in the 800 and Shauneen Garrahan in the 1600 as they lapped the entire field en route to a winning effort. Aly and Shauneen both grabbed runner-up honors in the 1000 and 800 respectively, earlier in the meet. Ariel, to go along with her strong relay effort, also won her section of the 500m in her first try at the event, while Monica Westin grabbed second in an earlier section of the same race. Lyndsey Scott raced strong in the open 400, and then led off the 4x400 relay team of Monica, Julia Rucker and Alison Rodriguez - the day's Iron Woman, as A-Rod ran the 1500 and the 1000 before getting the call for the the relay. Erinn White returned the indoor track racing scene after taking last year off, Dan dipped under the 11:00 minute mark to open her season.

Mike Page grabbed the day's lone victory for the men as he raced an even paced effort in the 3000, and used a big last lap to run away from his pursuers and lower his PR by 10 seconds in his first real race of the season. Jack Morgan grabbed a runner-up spot in the 1000m, as he raced in a strong field and put on a big kick in the last lap to nearly grab the win. He ran the 3rd leg (800m) of the Distance Medley Relay, along with Andy Schneider, Janak Chandrasoma and Dave Molina that grabbed a runner-up finish with a solid time for this point of the season, 10:35. Billy McNitt, while not racing the fastest times of the day, certainly had the best (and longest) day as he started his day by knocking off nearly 10 seconds from his PR in the 1500, then came back later to run the 1000m and again PR'd, and then stepped up to the plate to run the 800 leg on the DMR's B Team. Dave and Andy went 3-4 in the 800, with Andy doing much of the early work, and Dave doing much of the leading until late in the homestretch. Janak stepped up to the 500m and looked strong as he won his section and dipped under 70 seconds, while Jon Ettinger won his section - with both runners looking great as they finished. Cooper Knowlton won his section of the 1500 in a tight battle with John Babbott and Rich Wilson, who would come in just behind. Evan Guiney and Nate Freese worked well together in the 3k, doing the large majority of the work and finished 2-3 in their section. Dave Schreiner made his indoor 5k debut, just barely missing breaking the 16 minute mark. Sam Hayman and Kevin O'Doherty finished back to back in their section of the 800, and then Kevin joined forces with Jon, Tim Porter and Paul Whiting to race well in the 4x400. With intersession now finished, the runners should be a bit more rested for the meets and will look to make significant jumps in their performances as we head into the remainder of the schedule.

Wesleyan Invite I - Jan 17th The team did not run in the December meet at Reggie Lewis due to inclement weather, so the team got their season's officially under way at the Wesleyan Invitational. A great meet to get started with, the 6 teams provided enough competition, and great meet management got us out much earlier then expected. The Invite was a non scoring meet, but had it been scored, both the men and women would have done exceptionally well. The women, while small in numbers, were large in great performances as the team saw Ariel Haney and Shauneen Garrahan both grab double victories to pace the effort. Ariel grabbed the day's first win as she cleared 5 feet in the high jump, and then came back to easily run away from the field in the 400, and for good measure anchored the winning 4 x 400 relay, as Monica Westin Julia Rucker and Lyndsey Scott teamed up for the win. Shauneen made her Amherst track debut a successful one, as she edged Carter Hamill and Aly Venti in the 1500, and then came back shortly after to run a strong 1000m, with Aly just a few steps behind. Carter would double back in the 3000, running at as a workout in trainers but still running a quick time to easily win, with Alison Rodriquez making her 3k debut back in 4th place. Julia Rucker, helped add to her first place bounty with a win in the triple jump with a strong opening mark. Monica grabbed a runner-up spot in the 500, as she finds her track legs after a semester abroad.

The men were led by strong showings by the mid-distance and distance group as Mike Page got the ball rolling with an easy win in the 5k as he gets back into the swing of things following an injury, and Evan Guiney grabbed second place. The 1500 was a pack of purple as 3 different Amherst guys led at one point or another, and it was Dave Molina who would lead John Stanton-Geddes, Jack Morgan and Andy Schneider to a 1-4 sweep. Jack would make a strong move at the 400 mark of the 800 to grab the win in that event with Andy and Dave coming in just behind. Dave Schreiner led the 3k wire to wire and led Cooper Knowlton, Rich Wilson and Nate Freese to another 1-4 sweep. Paul Whiting and Jon Ettinger, despite limited jumping thus far, finished 1-2 in the triple jump. Janak Chandrasoma grabbed a runner-up spot in the 400, and anchored the runner-up 4x400 relay team of Sam Hayman, Paul and Jon. Sam grabbed 3rd place in the 500, getting his Amherst career officially started, and fellow first year, John Babbott grabbed a second place finish in the 1000m to get his track career off on the right foot.

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