Last Friday, Sept. 29, Lehigh hosted the Paul Short Classic brown division 6k race. Amherst claimed fourth place out of the 20 schools in the Division II/III league. The meet is one of the largest in the nation, with 14 races and over 6,000 athletes coming from both college and high school.

The course was a challenging one for the runners, with grass throughout and a hilly terrain.

Edinboro University took first with 81 points, followed by Assumption College with 89 points in second and The College of New Jersey, whose 109 points put the team in third. Amherst finished with 162 points and an average team time of 22:29.

Of 167 total runners, Amherst’s Nicky Roberts took first for Amherst, with a time of 20:55 on the 6k course, placing second overall.

As a team, Amherst runners finished strong, with Kristin Ratliff ’20 (22:29) coming in 25th, Sarah Gayer ’21 (22:57) in 43rd, Olivia Polischeck ’21 (22:59) in 45th, Lizzie Lacy ’19 (23:03) in 48th, Veronica Rocco ’19 (23:10) in 57th and Haley Greene ’21 (23:20) in 63rd.

This success comes only a mere six days after last Saturday’s 11th-place finish at the Purple Valley Classic. Again, the results of this week’s meet show the strength of the current team and the potential of this underclassman-heavy team.

The team returns to action this Saturday, Oct. 7, when they travel to Westfield State University for the James Earley Invitational. The race starts at noon.