The Amherst track & field team competed at the NESCAC Outdoor Championships on Saturday, April 27 at Tufts Univ. The men finished sixth out of 13 teams, while the women were eighth out of 11. Host Tufts captured the team title on both sides.
Despite the team’s low overall placing, the Lady Jeffs had some strong performances on the day. Senior captain Lauren Almeida won the competitive 1500-meter, finishing a mere one hundredths of a second ahead of second-place runner, Brianne Mirecki from Williams. Fellow senior captain Keri Lambert won her first NESCAC individual outdoor title in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Coming in second-place the past two seasons, Lambert finally captured first with an impressive time of 10:36.83.
Amherst had a number of notable showings in the distance events. Sarah Daly ’13 led the Jeffs with a second-place finish in the 5000m, while Lizzy Briskin ’15 came in ninth. Elodie Reed ’13 and Jessie Kaliski ’15 finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 10,000-meter.
The sprinters also experienced success as captain Naomi Bates ’14 finished fourth in the 200m dash with a time of 25.70, and Abraelle Shirley Anderson ’15 placed fifth in the 100m dash with a time of 12.70.
On the men’s side, Amherst had quite a few impressive performances as well. Three Jeffs recorded third-place finishes in their individual events: Matt Melton ’14 in the 400m dash, Pat Grimes ’13 in the 1500-meter and Andrew Erskine ’13 in the 10,000-meter. Several other Jeffs had top-10 showings. First-year Brent Harrison finished ninth in the 800m with a time of 1:55.05. Greg Turissini ’15 finished 10th in the 3000m steeplechase, while KC Fussell ’15 took sixth in the 10,000-meter.
In the field events, Joseph Terrell-Perica ’15 and Denzel Duncan ’13 brought in some points for Amherst. Terrell-Perica notched fourth in both the discus and javelin, and Duncan placed ninth in both the shot put and hammer throw.
This upcoming weekend, May 3-4, Amherst will compete in Div. III New England Championships at Colby. The following weekend, May 10-11, the Jeffs will travel to Stonehill for the All-New England Championships.
