Weekend Recap

Performer of the Meet - Mariana Palacios'08 and Will Fairhurst'10

Due to splitting the team between two different meets this weekend, a depleted squad took to the track at the Smith College Tartan Invitational, but the team was still able to record some impressive performances. On the men’s side, Eric Holaday earned the lone victory of the day, winning in 9:08.82. He was followed by Ben Mears in fourth, Will Fairhurst (who won the second heat handily) in eighth and Travis Cohoon in 15th. Tom Anderson took the runner-up spot in the 1000 with a 2:37.91 and also anchored the 4x400 relay team to a sixth-place finish. He was joined on that relay by Ryan Drost, Keith Pendergrass, and Steve Shashy. Anthony Fuller continued his string of strong performances in the 55, qualifying for the final once again and finishing sixth in 6.86. Pendergrass (ninth, 53.98) and Shashy (11th, 55.18) represented the team in the 400, and Ryan Drost made his 800 meter debut, finishing 10th. Ben Read moved up to the mile where he finished 13th.

On the women’s side, the distance runners showed their dominance by going 1-2-3-5-6 in the 5,000 with Nicole Anderson (18:20.13), Hallie Schwab (18:38.52—college debut/PR), Liz Dalton (18:39.03 PR), Cate Knuff (18:44.64 PR), and Katie Moravec (19:07.09) running well. The 800 was another good event for Amherst, with Hoiwan Cheung finished third in 2:26.87 and Mariana Palacios running a six-second PR of 2:28.17 to take fifth. Jennifer Rybak had a busy day, advancing to the hurdle final with a 9.62 qualifier and then taking seventh in the final. She teamed up with Mattie Baker, Emily Dick, and Kate Silverman in the 4x200 relay to run 1:51.22 and take second. She blew away her heat of the 200 meters and finished fourth overall in 28.04. Finally, she added an eighth-place finish in the long jump for good measure. The rest of the sprint crew also had a good day, with several other athletes running personal bests. Silverman won the 400 in 63.45. Baker qualified for the dash final and finished seventh in 7.94. She also finished 13th in the 200. Dick took ninth in the 200 and 13th in the 55. Kat Loomis finished 12th in the 200 and 20th in the 55 hurdles. Silverman, Cheung, Palacios, and Loomis teamed up to finish third in the 4x400. Melissa Pritchard had her best race of the season to finish third in the mile, with Lauren Benson finishing 11th in her best time of the season. The two doubled back in the 1000, where they were joined by Cara Giaimo (18th), who was running her first race of the season.