In spite of the less than ideal weather last Saturday, both the men’s and women’s outdoor track teams sprung into action at the UMass Invitational, as each team topped the competition in one event, in addition to placing well in several others.

Women

The Lord Jeffs came up big in the 3,000m steeplechase, where Tori Sosnowski ’14 stormed through the field to finish first in 11:33.23. Also excelling for Amherst was Keri Lambert ’13, who pulled up second in the 1,500 with a time of 4:49.21, as well as fellow sophomores Sarah Daly, Kristen Moulton and Elodie Reed, who finished fourth, sixth and seventh respectively in the 5k. Reed, who was named a Performer of the Meet by head coach Erik “Ned” Nedeau, and Moulton both ran career bests.

The two were a part of a much larger group of Jeffs who performed their career-bests at the UMass meet, as co-captain Christina Wong ’11, Marlis Gnirke’12, Anna Hager ’12 and Jamila Odeh ’13 all finished with personal records in the 1,500m.

The Jeffs had a strong showing in the 800m as well, as Melissa Sullivan ’12, Lauren Almeida ’13 and Lambert stuck close together, finishing in sixth, ninth and 10th places, respectively.

In the relays, a group of first-years ran an outstanding race in the 4x100, finishing just .11 seconds behind the team from Smith to nab second place. Out in the field, first-year Naomi Bates landed in second place in the triple jump after leaping 10.82m. Jordan Roehl ’12 took eighth in both the hammer throw and the shot put, with 36.00m and 10.52m, respectively.

Men

Senior Chris Eaton also maintained his dominance in the field, where he continued a spectacular season with a toss of 49.42m in the hammer throw to capture second place.

Ben Scheetz ’12 provided more of the same, as he dashed into second place in the 400m with a time of 48.61, where Andrew Reed ’12 followed him into seventh place. In the 800m, Steve Corsello ’11 and Matt Melton ’14 finished fifth and 10th with times of 1:55.92 and 1:57.54, respectively.

In the shorter distances, the Jeffs controlled the 4x100m relay, as the tandem of Andrew Reed ’12, Tommy Moore ’11, Matt Melton ’14 and Scheetz crossed the line in 3:21.39. First-year Javier Paulino sprinted through the 100m in 11.54 to grab fifth place, in addition to finishing ninth in the 200m.

The outdoor track teams will be busy this weekend, as they’ll travel to the Princeton Invite on Friday before heading to the Little Three Championships on Saturday.