Both teams started the season off ranked high in the National Rankings, and throughout the course of the season would maintain their Top 35 rankings. The men would see some time as the Top ranked team in New England while the women started out at the top and moved between 1 and 5 throughout the course of the season. Both teams qualified for the National Championships with the men finishing 2nd at the District Qualifier and securing an automatic berth while the women finished 5th and received an at-large bid. This was the 2nd year in a row with both teams qualifying for nationals, and 3rd time for the program. At the National Championships in Hanover the men would finish 24th while the women finished 28th but the big story was Elise Tropiano's gutsy runner-up finish. She broke from the pack just before the mile mark and opened up a gap on all but the eventual winner who would not catch Elise until the final stretch. With her 2nd place finish, it marked the best ever individual finish for an Amherst runner and capped an outstanding season in which she would become the first Amherst woman to win the District Championship the week before, as well as see her wining the NESCAC and earning Conference Runner of the year and USTFCCCA Regional Runner of the Year. Daniel Murner and Eric Holaday grabbed 2nd Team All-NESCAC honors, and they would also earn All-District honors along with Carlyle Eubank, Jimmy Swanson and Will Yochum while Sophie Galleher would earn District honors along with Elise. Both teams earned Academic All-American team accolades while Elise was named the Scholar Athlete of the Year and Hallie Schwab, Zandra Walton, Carlyle Eubank and Peter Foote earned Academic All-American honors for their success in the classroom and on the course.

While the men will lose the services of two of their varsity runners from last year, they return the heart of the scoring and should be one of the top teams in the region and quite possibly, the country. All-District runners Will Yochum, Daniel Murner, Carlyle Eubank and Eric Holaday all have two years of National Championship experience and Indoor All-American Jimmy Swanson and Ben Mears have each run at the Championship and will add their experience. Murner set school records in the 5k indoors with his 14:47 and the 10k (30:43) as well as running 14:39 outdoors to qualify for Nationals and has established himself as one of the leading individuals for the fall. Will Bell and Steve Corsello each had great track seasons in the Mile / 1500 and are looking to the fall with hopes of contributing to the success of the team, as is Steeplechaser John McGrail. While the region should be a very strong one again, with several teams returning a lot of talent, Amherst hopes to again challenge for a NESCAC Championship before setting its sights on the Districts and then trying to break into the Top Ten at the National Championships. A very solid incoming class could help to provide some much needed depth and even see some contributions at the varsity level as they adjust to the increase in distance and the acclimation to college life. Adron Pitmon (VT), Patrick Grimes (MA), Andrew Erskine (CT), and Dillon Buckley (DE) amongst a few other first years should help to build upon the success of the program and provide a great foundation to continue our success.

The women will be impacted greatly, for the 2nd year in a row, by graduation losses - most notably NCAA Runner-up, Elise Tropiano - but this should help to provide opportunities for others to step into a scoring role and have a big impact on the team. Senior Sophia Galleher will look to build upon her success from last fall, and she will be looking to make her 4th trip to the National Championships. Hallie Schwab had a great track season, and will build on that this summer as will classmate Christina Wong. Two Sophomores with National Championship experience, Eliza Schlach and Shannon McKenna will come back and have an impact as will classmate Melissa SUllivan who had a fantastic track season. Several first years could have a big impact on the team scoring and will be able to jump into the mix of things as Sarah Daly (IL), Ali Simeone (MA), Lauren Almeida (MA), Elodie Reed (NH), Rebecca Alizzi (NY) and Keri Lambert (MA) amongst others should help to bolster the depth and strength of the team. With the region returning a lot of top teams, we will have our hands full to get back to the National Championships but we are looking forward to the challenge and hope to surprise some teams.

Amy Nedeau begins her eighth season as assistant coach at Amherst College. Amy earned All-American honors while running track and cross country for Boston College, and continues to compete for the Boston Athletic Association. She has competed at the 2000 Olympic Trials in the 1500 and has also competed at the Indoor Track and Cross Country National Championships. Her current personal bests are 56 400m, 2:07 800m, 4:18 1500m, 16:15 5k and 27:30 5 miles. Amy had been an assistant coach at Brandeis University for three seasons before coming to Amherst. In addition to her coaching duties, she is a Fifth Grade Elementary school teacher in Belchertown. Ned and Amy got married in the summer of 2003, and on December 27th, 2005 welcomed Lukas Jay Nedeau into the world of running.