Men
The Amherst men’s cross country team traveled to Williamstown this past Saturday to take part in the Little Three Championships, hosted by NESCAC archrival Williams.
The Jeffs took second in the meet with 45 points, while Williams took home the title with 19 points. Wesleyan was last in the trio, with 68 points.
The top finishers for Amherst included Mohamed Hussein ’18, whose 26:01 in the 8000m slated him fourth in the 54-person field. Runners from Williams had the top three overall finishes, with Colin Cotton’s 25:48 time winning the day.
Rounding out the top three for the Jeffs wasDan Crowley ’16 and Raymond Meijer ’17, whose 26:22 and 26:36 finishing times placed them eighth and 10th overall, respectively.
“Although we had some notable performances, we fell well short of our team goal of winning the meet,” said senior co-captain Greg Turissini. “Williams is a very solid team, but considering our finish at last weekend’s Open New England Championships, I believe we have what it takes to compete with them. I believe we could have benefitted from more rest, as both Williams and Wesleyan came in to Saturday’s race well-rested from a bye weekend.”
Other top runners for the Jeffs included Ben Fiedler ’17 (26:45), co-captain KC Fussell ’15 (26:48), Craig Nelson ’18 (26:50) and Turissini (26:52), placing them in 11th, 12th, 14th and 16th.
“We were a bit disappointed with the score, and by the fact that we did not pose as much of a challenge to Williams as I thought we are capable of,” said Coach Eric Nedeau. “But I’m looking forward to a last good block of training as we head into the championships.”
The Jeffs will look to race to this high standard set by Coach Nedeau when they return to action on Saturday, Nov. 1 for the NESCAC Championships, hosted by Middlebury.
Women
The Amherst women’s cross country team finished second at the Little Three Championships this past Saturday in Williamstown. The Jeffs finished the 5K with an average time of 19:34 and 43 points. This was behind Williams’ 19:01 average finish and 19 points. Wesleyan took third in the event, averaging two minutes behind Williams and with 83 points.
“Little threes was sort of a mixed bag,” said Coach Cassie Funke-Harris. “This was the last race of the season for a few people on the team, and I thought that they did a good job of embracing the opportunity and putting it all out there. Williams is one of the best teams in the country, so we knew it would be a long shot for us to beat them. That said, I didn’t feel like we put our best effort out there. There were some really great races, but there were also some team members who just didn’t show up ready to race, and it showed.”
Paving the way for the Jeffs was Savanna Gornisiewicz ’17, whose 18:57 finish placed her second in the 61-person field.
Next for Amherst, and also in the top ten was Lizzy Briskin ’15. The senior’s 19:31 finish slotted her eighth overall. Rounding out the top five finishers for the Jeffs were Nicky Roberts ’18 (19:39), Lexi Sinclair ’16 (19:46) and Jessie Kaliski ’15 (19:53), who each took 12th, 15th and 17th, respectively. Other top runners for the Jeffs were Cara Lembo ’17 (20:30) and Tess Frenzel ’17 (20:37).
“I think there were important things to take away from this past weekend, but I’m already looking ahead to NESCACs,” Coach Funke-Harris said. “We had fantastic meets at Williams and Paul Short, and if we can keep that momentum rolling, I like our chances of a top three finish. This team responds well to pressure and they run well when they need to. We just need to put together five really good races at NESCACs to accomplish our goal of finishing in the top three.”
The Jeffs will return to action for the NESCAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Middlebury.
