Cross country: Women run to second at UMass

Women’s Cross Country

With 63 points, the Amherst women finished in an impressive second place behind Brown University. Colby, Trinity and Bates Colleges and more than 25 other teams trailed far behind the Amherst women. Senior co-captain Carter Hamill and Shauneen Garrahan ’07 predictably led the way for the women, placing fourth and fifth overall with times of 18:38 and 18:43. Next came Kim Partee ’08 in 12th, Ginger Polich ’06 in 16th and Laura Mortimer ’08 in 27th. Margaret Davis ’06 and Heather Wilson ’08 completed the varsity seven, finishing 34th and 38th, respectively.

“The varsity girls raced really well, and the girls in the JV race ran awesomely as well,” said Coach Erik Nedeau. “A couple of them could have been in the varsity seven.” Katie Moravec ’08, co-captain Ali Rodriguez ’05 and Vanessa Sochat ’08 led the JV team with times comparable to the varsity women’s. This depth will only become more important as the season progresses.

Men’s Cross Country

The men placed sixth with 177 points. Bates College won with 58 points. Amherst’s top three finishers crossed the finish line within 10 seconds of each other: co-captain Matt Katz ’05 in 30th with a time of 26:22, Tomas Morrissey’08 in 33rd at 26:30 and co-captain Dave Molina ’05 in 35th just two seconds behind Morrissey.

First-year Mike Harbus finished 63rd, followed by sophomores Cooper Knowlton, Nate Freese, John Babbott, and Richard Wilson who placed 67th, 83rd, 92nd and 110th respectively. The JV men also put forth an excellent effort to place fifth in their race.