Oct. 20, 2012

AMHERST, Mass. - Head Coach Ken O'Brien entered the season with a very young team overall, but it's been his lone senior and his strong class of juniors that have let there experience show and carry the Minutemen throughout the season. John O'Shea, Patrick McGowan and Antony Taylor have been the team's top three runners this season and are expected to race in the Rothenberg Race after missing the New England Championships.

Due to many of the Minutemen's top runners sitting out in the last meet, two freshmen were allowed to step up and place first and third for the Minutemen alongside junior harrier, Jared Reddy. Ben Groleau and Quentin Stipp were the two freshmen that stepped up showed they can compete at the elite level of the New England Championships in Westfield two weeks ago. With the two gaining confidence and the experience after racing in such a large meet on such a difficult course given the conditions, the two could play a large factor in the team's success tomorrow and in the A-10 Champonships.

This week's meet is the final meet before the A-10 Championships and Coach O'Brien sees the meet as an opportunity to either rest up his athletes for the championship meet next Saturday or use this race as one last tune up.