Men

Amherst placed 20th out of 34 teams at the Open New England Championships on Friday and Saturday, where they competed against the top New England runners across all divisions. Senior Ben Scheetz set the Div. III record in the 800-meter run. His time of 1:47.43 earned him second place, behind a Div. II runner who kicked it into gear for the final stretch.

Junior Pat Grimes ran a personal record time in the mile. His time of 4:10.10 put him in 11th in a field of 27 runners, and was one of the fastest Div. III times of the season. Andrew Erskine ’13 led the Jeffs in the 5,000 with a 15:02.92 to finish 14th. KC Fussel ’15 and Dillon Buckley ’13 were close behind, placing 20th (15:13.33) and 22nd (15:16.67), respectively.

Sophomore Matt Melton missed out on a spot in the final heat for the 800, but he ran a personal best in the preliminaries, crossing the tape in 1:52.04.

Women

The distance medley relay team was the highlight for the Jeffs at the Open New England Championships, marking the fourth fastest time in Div. III and qualifying for nationals. Lauren Almeida ’13, Naomi Bates ’14, Amy Dao ’14 and Keri Lambert ’13 clocked in at 11:52.71, the third-fastest time in school history.

The 4x400 relay also impressed, with Beth Hall ’14, Bates, Almeida and Jade McKnight ’13 finishing in 18th with a time of 4:02.58. They dropped 13 seconds from their best performance of the season due to career times from each runner.

The 4x800 team of Ellen Richmond ’12, Lisa Walker ’14, Lizzy Briskin ’15 and Dao also posted a season-best time.

Richmond ran a personal best in the 800 with a 2:20.75. Lambert’s 4:55.85 in the mile was 0.2 seconds out of scoring range and the second-best time in school history. She placed ninth of 27 runners.

The men’s and women’s teams will compete at the ECAC Championships this weekend.