Men
The No. 22 Amherst men’s cross-country team opened its 2014 campaign this past weekend at the UMass Invitational. The team has its highest preseason ranking since 2010.
“In addition to a solid class of returners, we have a great group of freshmen that will hopefully vie for a spot on varsity (top seven). We have ambitious goals for the upcoming season, including a trip … the national championship in November,” said Greg Turissini '15 regarding the team's promise.
At UMass, the Jeffs finished fifth among six teams in the competition. The University of Vermont, Boston College and the University of Maine took the top three places. Amherst was the only Div. III team that participated in the event.
“The meet went great in that we did what I had hoped the guys would do — work on focusing, keeping groups intact and using the race more as a controlled effort, as opposed to an all out race,” said Coach Ned Nedeau.
Leading this effort for the Jeffs was first-year runner Mohamed Hussein who clocked in at 19:54. This slated him at 35th in the 89-runner field. Dan Crowley ’16 and Jeff Seelaus ’16 finished with Hussein as they crossed the tape just milliseconds behind the first-year.
Rounding off the Jeffs’ top seven finishers were KC Fussell ’15 (19:55), Steven Lucey ’17 (20:10), Kevin Connors ’17 (20:15) and Romey Sklar ’15 (20:17).
The Jeffs will return to the trails Saturday, Sept. 27 to compete in the Purple Valley Classic, hosted by NESCAC archrival Williams.
Women
The Amherst women’s cross-country team took to the trails for the second time this season when they competed in the UMass Invitational this past Saturday. The Jeffs finished sixth in the event as the only Div. III team to participate amongst a field of Div. I runners. Boston College took home the event, followed by the Univ. of Conn. and UMass Amherst.
Building off of last weekend’s performance at the Smith Invitational, Lexi Sinclair ’16 paved the way for the Jeffs. Her 17:54 finishing time placed her 14th in a field of 125 runners. Savanna Gornisiewicz ’17 was next for Amherst with a finishing time of 18:09 (25th overall). Nicky Roberts ’18 took 31st overall and third amongst the Jeffs.
Rounding out the top seven for the Purple and White were Lizzy Briskin ’15 (18:45), Jessie Kaliski ’15 (18:48), Catherine Lowdon ’17 (19:22) and Betsy Black ’16 (19:26).
Coach Cassie Funke-Harris said she was pleased with her team’s results. “I was really happy with the way we raced on Saturday. After the brutally hot and humid conditions that we experienced at Smith last week, we had about as close to perfect cross-country weather as you could ask for. On top of that, the course was in unbelievable condition, and those two factors resulted in some really fast times. Granted, the course and conditions have changed from year to year, but this is the first time since 2009 that we’ve had our entire top five runners under 19:00, and Lexi is the first Amherst runner to ever run under 18:00 at that meet,” Funke-Harris said.
The Jeffs will aim to put themselves in a great position to compete again when they return to action against NESCAC foes on Saturday, Sept. 27 for the Purple Valley Classic hosted by Williams.
