Around the Herd: March 28 to April 4 in Athletics

Track and Field:

The men’s and women’s track and field teams took part in the Black & Gold Invitational at Bryant University. Kicking things off, Jack Renda ’23 competed in the hammer throw, placing 26th with a score of 33.40m in a field composed of mainly Division I athletes. On the women’s team, Bethany Martin ’24 and Deb Thayer ’25 competed in the throws with Martin posting a mark of 38.47 and Thayer with 37.18, placing 27th and 28th, respectively.

The competition took to the outdoors on Sunday, April 2nd. The women’s team had an impressive showing with a winning performance by senior Mary Kate McGranahan ’26 in the steeplechase with a mark of 3000m, as well as a record-tying pole vault mark of 3.40m by Mia Bawendi ’24. Overall the Mammoths scored 41 points and finished 7th out of 18 teams, most of which were Division I.

The men’s team also had an excellent outdoor season opening: First-year Jordan Harrison ’26, running the 100m dash for the first time in his collegiate career, had a record-tying performance of 10.79 seconds, followed by Adrian Friedman ’24 who won the long jump with a mark of 6.39m. Collectively, the Mammoths placed 6th out of 18 teams in the meet with a score of 65.5.

Tennis:

The Amherst women’s tennis team improved their overall record to 6-1 with the performance of No. 7, Calista Sha ’23, who won a hard-fought match against No. 8 Tufts on Saturday, April 1.

The Amherst men’s tennis team fell to the undefeated Tufts University Jumbos on Saturday, April 1, falling to an overall record of 5-4 and 1-3 in the NESCAC.

Baseball:

The baseball team managed to sweep Clark University with a score of 17-3 on March 29 before falling two notches to Hamilton College in a doubleheader game on April 2. The Mammoths had a phenomenal start to their game against the Clark Cougars: a home run by Ryan McIntyre that resulted in three runs, followed by another deep blast to center field by Luke Padian established the Mammoth’s unrelenting lead for the rest of the game. Though Clark managed to score three runs over three innings, they were unable to bridge the gap in the score and the game in favor of the Mammoths, improving their record to 7-3-1.

Unfortunately, the baseball team’s winning streak did not hold against Hamilton as they lost 2-1 in the first game and 10-20 in the second. In the first game, the Mammoths’ potential early lead was spoiled due to a double play by Hamilton’s left fielder. At the top of the 7th inning, the Mammoths were down 2-0 as a single-run home run by Padian brought the score to a 2-1. Still, the Mammoths struggled to tie the game which ended in favor of Hamilton. The second game ended in a similar manner with Hamilton clutching the lead with 10 runs at the bottom of the second inning and holding off the Mammoths en route to a 10-20 game.

Women’s Lacrosse:

Outstanding performances from Emily Petersen ’26 and Bridget Finley ’26 led the team to earn their fourth consecutive win this season. The Mammoths hoped to lengthen this streak as they commenced their game against Bowdoin on Saturday, securing an early 4-2 lead in the first half of the game. Then, what seemed at first to be an evenly-matched third quarter, ended with Amherst scoring five unanswered goals. Though Bowdoin managed to earn some points back during the final period of the game, they were unable to close the gap and the Mammoths won the game with a final score of 11-8.