On Saturday, April 13, the Amherst outdoor track & field team competed in its only “home” meet of the season at the UMass Minutemen Invitational. Contending with Division I, II and III teams, the men racked up 54 team points, placing seventh out of 14 overall and third amongst DIII programs. Northeastern University won the meet with a total of 110.50 points.
Dillon Buckley ’13 won the steeplechase for the Jeffs with a time of 9:35.50. Teammate Greg Turissini ’15 was next to finish, coming in second with a time of 9:42.41, and Charlie Reighard ’14 came in fourth with a time of 10:04.94. In the 800 meters, Pat Grimes ’13 and Matt Melton ’14 earned Amherst some points, finishing second and fourth, respectively, with times of 1:53.77 and 1:54.75. Grimes nearly took first place as he was only 0.44 seconds behind the first place runner.
In the field events, the Jeffs continued to succeed as Josiah Terrell-Perica ’15 placed fourth in the discus with a throw of 41.94 meters. Terrell-Perica had another strong showing in the hammer throw, finishing seventh with a distance of 45.76 meters.
The women also had multiple outstanding performances on the day as the team placed eighth out of 19 overall and second amongst DIII programs. Connecticut won the team title for the women.
Notably, Naomi Bates ’14 broke the school record in long jump that had been set by Nicole Campbell ’00 in 1999. Bates posted a mark of 5.84 meters, which won her the event and the third longest DIII jump thus far in the season.
Keri Lambert ’13 had great performance in her first steeplechase of the spring. Finishing second overall with time of 10:42.64, Lambert currently has the second fastest national time on the year and is looking to defend her national title in the event.
In the 5K, Amherst women had two strong showings from Sarah Daly ’13 and Lizzy Briskin ’15, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Daly now has the 10th fastest DIII time this season (17:26.89).
The Jeffs travel to Princeton next Friday for the Larry Ellis Invitational before returning to Massachusetts for the Little III Championships on Saturday, April 20 at Williams.
