Women
Keri Lambert broke from the pack Saturday to win her second-straight NCAA New England Regional Championship and fifth-consecutive race of the season. In what has already proved to be a grand finale to her collegiate career, Lambert has now earned herself a spot at NCAA Nationals, held in Terre Haute, Ind., where she will look to improve on her fifth-place finish last year.

Led by their All-American captain, the women’s cross country team took fifth place overall in the team competition, good enough for an at-large bid to Nationals where they will join Lambert.

Lambert won the 6K race in 20:48.94, 18 seconds better than rival Addie Tousley of Middlebury, who took second in 21:07.13. Next for Amherst, Lizzy Briskin ’15 took 28th with a time of 22:19.26, good enough for All-New England recognition. Just behind, first-year Caroline Rose and senior Lauren Almeida finished nearly side-by-side with times of 22:48.13 and 22:50.17, respectively. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Jeffs, Elodie Reed took 58th place in 22:56.71.

MIT — ranked no. 1 nationally — dominated the women’s team race with just 58 points, while NESCAC foes Williams (75), Middlebury (89) and Bates (145) all bested the Lady Jeffs 170 points. Still, after a strong season with consistently high results, Amherst has booked its ticket to Terre Haute, IN – one of just 32 Division III teams.

For Lambert, the National Championship (held this Saturday, Nov. 17) will be icing on the cake of a record-breaking and trophy-collecting season. After winning NESCACs and now Regionals, Lambert has already asserted herself as one of the nation’s best, and a solid performance this weekend would cement her place among Amherst’s greatest-ever athletes.

Men
The men’s cross country team wrapped up their season at Regionals last weekend, taking 11th place in the 50-team field.

Andrew Erskine ’13 led the Jeffs, finishing 29th overall with a time of 25:32.76 in the eight-kilometer course. Although the senior’s time was good enough for All-New England honors, it wasn’t quite enough to qualify him for Nationals for the second year in a row.

Behind Erskine, sophomore Greg Turissini finished 54th overall (26:04.81) to conclude what began as a promising season but ended somewhat disappointingly in his last two contests. Next for the Jeffs were KC Fussell ’15 (26:24.15) and Gus Greenstein ’14 (26:40.74), finishing 68th and 81st, respectively. Rounding out the Jeffs runners was sophomore Romey Sklar, finishing with a time of 26:48.07.