Track & Field at Amherst College

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2007 Track & Field - A Look Back

The women capped their outstanding season with an unexpected 4th place finish at the National Championships - their best ever outdoor finish.Four women made the trip, and all of them earned All-American honors and contributed to the scoring. Shauneen Garrahan capped her incredible career with an unprecedented Triple, as she won the 10k, Steeple (in a new NCAA Championship record) and the 5k and was named the Outstanding Performer of the Meet. Elise Tropiano earned AA honors in both the steeple and 10k, while Heather Wilson and Maria Millard grabbed AA accolades in the 10k and 400 hurdles respectively. All four women earned All-American honors during indoors as Shauneen finished 3rd in the mile and then, along with Elise and Heather finished 2,7,8 in the 5000. Maria ran the 800 leg of the DMR team consisting of Shauneen, Caitlin Murphy and carly Levenson that smashed the school record and finished 3rd. As a result of everyone's super efforts, the team finished 7th at the NCAA Meet. Numerous school records were set throughout the year - both indoors and outdoors - and please check the record book to see all of the ones broken in 2007! At the Indoor New England DIII Championships, the team had an incredible performance as they finished 3rd with 93 points - the most the team has ever scored at this meet and got contributions from every person there, whether it was a relay leg or picking up unexpected points in their respective events.The DMR of Sophie Galleher, Mary Doris Reggie, Molly Priedeman and Caitlin Murphy raced great and held off all others to grab the win. The 4x800 relay of Molly, Caitlin, Shauneen Garrahan and Maria Millard finished the day with a come from behind victory to bookend the championship in winning style.

The men saw some great racing by a lot of the guys, and some waited for 4 years to make their mark. Senior Nate Freese, having never competed at a Championship meet prior to his senior year, came on big as he won the DIII New England's in the 5k and earned runner-up honors in the NESCAC and All New England 10k. First years Daniel Murner and Carlyle Eubank had a lot of success, and traded freshmen school records in the 5k - Murner set the mark at the NESCAC Championships, and then 3 weeks later, Carlyle finished the season with a 15:03 to snatch the record away. John Babbott was a rock in the mile and 5k, earning valuable championship points indoors and outdoors, and Jack Kiley consistently run under 1:55 in the 800 and was great as an individual runner or as a member of any relay team he was on. Mike Harbus and Harrison Lakehomer posted PR marks in the 3k and 5k and earning honors at the DIII and ECAC meets; while several first years made a smooth transition to college racing - Kit Callahan, Jimmy Swanson and Will Bell in the mid-distances significantly lowered their PR's in whatever races they were entered. Steve Stewart, Rom Cabeza and Basile Beaty - in relays and open races, were solid at all levels of competition.

The men will lose the services of a large group of seniors, notably John Babbott and nate Freese, but have a great deal of depth in the mid to long distance events, and should be a strong force at the Championship meets. The mid-distance group will certainly be a strength of the team as Basile Beaty, Rom Cabeza, Jack Kiley, Steve Stewart, Jimmy Swanson, Kit Callahan and Tommy Anderson will look to compete in both individual and relay races with great success. The distance runners will be led by first year school record holding Carlyle Eubank, as well as All ECAC runner harrison Lakehomer, Mike harbus, Daniel Murner, and Eric Holaday. Junior Peter Foote and Will Bell will strengthen the distance corps indoors before getting to their specialty, the steeplechase, during the outdoor campaign. Another talented group of first years including German exchange student Florian Reichert, Will Yochum, Peter harrison, John McGrail, Ben mears and Kevin Hanly will bolster the depth in both the mid and long distance grouping, as well as the potential in the steeplechase. Captain Steve Shashy will head the sprint group, as he will look to fare well in the long sprints and be joined by the lacrosse playing Thomas Foote, Keith Pendergrass, Tommy Moore and several first year guys including Chris Ball and Ryan Drost. 

Shauneen Garrahan - Long Distance and Steeplechase

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.

Alison Wade - Sprints, Jumps, Mid & Long Distance

Alison Wade will be in her first year at Amherst and will be working with a broad range of events, as she will work with both the sprinters and mid / long distance runners, as well as working with the jumping events. She 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.