The women returned all scoring runners but one from the year before, and with the experience gained in 2009 certainly helped as they not only returned to the National Championships but would grab an 8th place finish - and Ali Simeone'13 would earn her first All-American accolades by placing 12th out in Iowa at Wartburg's course. Melissa Sullivan had an excellent year, as she and Ali formed a very potent 1-2 punch, and Sully just missed grabbing All-American honors but improved upon all of her finished from the year before, earning All New England and All NESCAC honors. By season's end, first year Tori Sosnowsky solidified herself as the team's 3rd runner and provided great consistency throughout the season, earning All New England honors while behind her Liza Schalch'12, tri-captains Christina Wong, Mercedes Taylor and Hallie Schwab each would spend time as scoring runners. Another first year, Angie Epifano, despite getting off to a late start with the season quickly ran her way into the Top 7 and only a fall at Nationals seemed to be able to slow up her momentum as she was getting better with each meet. While not necessarily factoring into the Top 7, several others played pivotal roles in contributing to the success in the fall including sophomore classmates Keri Lambert, Abby HopperElodie Reed, Sarah Daly and Lauren Almeida while Anna Hager showed big improvements as she adjusted to higher mileage quite successfully. Jasia Kaulbach had an impressive first year campaign, saving her best race for her final one at ECAC's. As a team, the women placed 8th at Nationals after qualifying for the championships by virtue of their 3rd place finish at the Regional meet to go along with 3rd place finishes at both ECAC's and on a very muddy NESCAC course.

The men saw their streak of qualifying for NCAA's as a team come to an end, though Will Yochum did earn one of the coveted individual qualifying positions with his 3rd place finish at the Regional meet. Fellow miler Steve Corsello would prove to be the teams 2nd runner, and had some great races throughout the year including earning All New England and All NESCAC honors, and just missed making the trip to Nationals as an individual. While the 1-2 at the front was consistent, there was a lot of variance and shuffling in the remaining spots but at the season's end, it was captain John McGrail who shook off early season injury woes as best as possible to finish 3rd for the team at the regional championships while sophomore Andrew Erskine used an All-ECAC performance as momentum for a strong run in the season's final meet. Dillon Buckley had some great early season running, then spent some time dealing with a leg injury but was able to rally with a couple of big races to finish up the year, as did sophomore classmate Patrick Grimes. Jack Seaver may very well have been the story of the year as he was a guy who walked on to the team with no summer training as a freshmen and with each year, he has put in more work and he capped his XC career by earning a spot in the top 7 running at regionals and running 27 minutes for 5 miles - despite barely breaking 19 minutes in high school. Sophomore Adron Pitmon got a late start to the season but made a quick impact in the scoring while First year Gus Greenstein put together a solid last few weeks of the season which will be built upon as he heads into his 2nd year. Both teams earned Academic All-American accolades based on a combination of athletic performance and success in the class room based on overall GPA.

Championships Accolades:

All American - Ali Simeone

Academic All American - Christina Wong, Melissa Sulivan, Angie Epifano

All New England Region - Ali Simeone, Melissa Sullivan, Tori Sosnowsky, Christina Wong, Angie Epifano & Will Yochum, Steve Corsello

All NESCAC - Ali Simeone, Melissa Sullivan & Will Yochum, Steve Corsello

All New England (Top 35 at NEICAA Championships) - Ali Simeone & Will Yochum

Little Three Champion - Will Yochum

All ECAC - Angie Epifano, Mercedes Taylor, Sarah Daly & Andrew Erskine, Dillon Buckley

The men will certainly feel the sting of graduation losses and will be in a rebuilding mode as what graduation did not take the year before will certainly be taken from the spring as the Top 3 scorers as well as the 7th runner from last years teams have moved on. Despite the losses, the team will be looking to come on strong and the season will provide plenty of opportunities for people to step into a scoring role - roles that may not have been possible due to the front runners in the past. Juniors Andrew Erskine, Patrick Grimes and Dillon Buckley should provide a good foundation at the front and take the success of the track seasons and carry it to the hills of XC while the team will also welcome the return of Adron Pitmon. Senior captains Alec Jacobson and Ben Scheetz could also find some time in the scoring seven - as Scheetz grabbed National Athlete of the Year honors this past winter as well as laying claim to the 800 National Championships. Sophomore classmates Gus Greenstein and Alvara Morales will be looked upon to step into scoring roles, after making solid adjustments in their first year. With opportunities for scoring greater then in the past, there are several first year guys who could come in and have an immediate impact on the complexion of the team scoring as Greg Turissini (Ohio), KC Fussell (Mass), Romey Sklar (Mass), Nick Kearns (Mass), Lucas Lebovitz (California) have run some solid times in either (or both) XC for the 5k or on the track.

The women will lose the services of their trio of captains who had spent time in the Top 7 throughout the year but should return as a strong force in the fall and will look to make a return trip to NCAA's and hope to improve upon their 8th place finish from last year as they do return All Americans Ali Simeone and Melissa Sullivan to form a very potent 1-2 front running duo. First years Tori Sosnowsky and Angle Epifano each had a great first year in both XC and track, and the year of experience should help tremendously as they return for the 2nd year. Senior Eliza Schalch was a Top 7 performer all year last year and should continue to make big improvements while junior Keri Lambert had a tremendous track season qualifying for NCAA in the steeple, and also has NCAA experience under her belt from her first year. Junior classmates Sarah Daly, Abby Hopper, Lauren Almeida and Elodie Reed will be looked upon to build on last years success and step into a scoring role and provide greater strength and depth this fall. Sophomores Jasia Kaulbach, Amy Dao and Lisa Walker should be looking for big improvements as they enter their 2nd year in the program while a couple of senior captains, Shannon McKenna and Anna Hager, will look to factor in the scoring as well as provide leadership with the team. While those who are returning may be the ones who fill the scoring roles, several strong incoming first years including Olivia Tarantino (New Jersey), Kelli Ellingson (Idaho - coming off a ski injury), Jessie Kaliski (Mass), Leah Thompson (Oregon - will be her first year running XC) class should possibly vie for some of the scoring positions, and at the very least help to bolster the depth of the team - something that is always needed.

Amy Nedeau has been with the program for ten years as an 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.