2011-12 Open NE

Open New England Championships

February 24-25, 2012

On February 24th and 25th, the Amherst College Men’s Track and Field team competed at the Open New England Championships, hosted by Boston University, and a number of Lord Jeffs achieved outstanding results. Friday night saw trials in events 1,000m and down and the finals of the Distance Medley Relay. Both senior captain Ben Scheetz and sophomore speedster Matt Melton competed in the trials of the 800m run, in the same heat. The heat was hotly contested among four runners, Amherst’s two among them, until Scheetz pulled into the lead and cruised to a win in an easy 1:51 to qualify for finals. Melton, who took advantage of the opportunity to have a rabbit of sorts, sat on Scheetz’s shoulder and earned himself a very smooth 1:52.04 PR, propelling him up the NCAA charts in the event, though barely missing Saturday’s finals. Sophomore Charlie Reighard also marked a personal best, his in the 1,000m run, at 2:34.19 for 17th overall. Amherst’s DMR squad of Eli Howe, Steve Hetterich, Chris Erickson and Lucas Lebovitz ran a 10:30.51, bolstered in part by an outstanding 1200 leg from Howe in 3:09, and a great quarter mile from Hetterich in 52.6.

Saturday’s competition saw Amherst harriers racing in the unseeded mile, the finals of the 800 and the two relay events. As usual, junior Pat Grimes did a majority of the work for his heat of the mile and earned a 4:10.10 PR, placing himself on the cusp of the NCAA meet. He would return in the 4x400, splitting 50.9. And again as usual, Scheetz provided fireworks in the 800m run. The senior half-miler led from the gun and paced the finals heat for 750m, before SCSU’s Selai Lumax pulled alongside him. The two battled down the final straightaway, with Scheetz ultimately placing second. However, his second place time of 1:47.43 is a personal best, a school record, a Division III national record, and inches him closer to qualifying for Olympic trials in June. Highlights of Saturday’s relays came from the 4x800m team, where first-year Nick Codola and sophomore Charlie Reighard notched personal-best splits of 1:58.6 and 1:57.9 to propel the team to a 7:56.07 finish.

800m Run
2	Scheetz	Ben	1:47.43
11	Melton	Matt	1:52.04

1000m Run
17	Reighard	Charlie	2:34.19

Mile Run
11	Grimes	Pat	4:10.10

3,000m Run
27	Turissini	Greg	8:58.55

5,000m Run
14	Erskine	Andrew	15:02.92
20	Fussell	KC	15:13.33
22	Buckley	Dillon	15:16.67

4x400m Relay
17	Durkee	Alex	53.0
	Grimes	Pat	50.9
	Melton	Matt	49.3
	Scheetz	Ben	48.4
			3:21.76

4x800m Relay
18	Sklar	Romey	1:59.9
	Codola	Nick	1:58.6
	Reighard	Charlie	1:57.9
	Howe	Eli	1:59.6
			7:56.07

DMR
19	Howe	Eli	3:09.7
	Hetterich	Steve	52.6
	Erickson	Chris	2:04.0
	Lebovitz	Lucas	4:23.5
			10:30.51