Editing Amherst College (section)

==Athletics==
{{see also|Amherst Mammoths football}}
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:right; margin-left:15px" 
! width= 150px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Amherst Mammoths|border=1|color= white }}"| Men's sports
! width= 150px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Amherst Mammoths|border=1|color= white }}"| Women's sports
|-
| Baseball || Basketball
|-
| Basketball || Cross Country
|-
| Cross Country || Field Hockey
|-
| [[Amherst Mammoths football|Football]] || Golf
|-
| Golf || Ice Hockey
|-
| Ice Hockey || Lacrosse
|-
| Lacrosse || Soccer
|-
| Soccer || Softball
|-
| Squash || Squash
|-
| Swimming & Diving || Swimming & Diving
|-
| Tennis || Tennis
|-
| Track & Field{{sup|1}} || Track & Field{{sup|1}}
|-
|  || Volleyball
|-
|-
| colspan="2" style="{{CollegeSecondaryStyle|Amherst Mammoths|color= #3F1F69}}" | {{small|{{sup|1}} – includes both indoor and outdoor}}
|}

[[File:Amherst-Cornell Hockey Game on Beebe Lake, Ithaca (January 14, 1922) NYSA A3045-78 10436.tif|thumb|left|Amherst College "Lord Jeffs" vs [[Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey|Cornell ice hockey]] game on [[Beebe Lake (Ithaca, New York)|Beebe Lake]], Ithaca (January 14, 1922)]]
Amherst participates in the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA's]] [[NCAA Division III|Division III]], the [[Eastern College Athletic Conference]], and the [[New England Small College Athletic Conference]], which includes [[Bates College|Bates]], [[Bowdoin College|Bowdoin]], [[Colby College|Colby]], [[Connecticut College]], [[Hamilton College|Hamilton]], [[Middlebury College|Middlebury]], [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity]], [[Tufts University|Tufts]], [[Wesleyan University|Wesleyan]], and [[Williams College]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nescac.com/landing/index|title=NESCAC|website=www.nescac.com|access-date=April 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422091645/http://www.nescac.com/landing/index|archive-date=April 22, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Amherst is also one of the "[[Little Three]]", along with Williams and Wesleyan. A Little Three champion is informally recognized by most teams based on the head-to-head records of the three schools, but three-way competitions are held in some of the sports.

Amherst claims its athletics program as the oldest in the nation,<ref>"[https://cms.amherst.edu/athletics/quickfacts Amherst College and Amherst Athletics Quickfacts]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}", amherst.edu . Retrieved October 31, 2007.</ref> pointing to its compulsory physical fitness regimen put in place in 1860 (the mandate that all students participate in sports or pursue physical education has been discontinued).<ref name="tyler">"[http://www.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/amherst/history/1894tyler-ws/chapter12/menu.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307142220/http://www.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/amherst/history/1894tyler-ws/chapter12/menu.html|date=March 7, 2008}}", ''A History of Amherst College During the Administrations of its First Five Presidents.''</ref> Amherst and Williams played the first [[college baseball]] game July 2, 1859.<ref name="baseballgame">{{cite news|first = Gordon|last = Edes|title = Amherst and Williams re-enact first college game|date = May 4, 2009|work = [[Yahoo! Sports]]|url = https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ge-amherstwilliams050309|access-date = May 4, 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121025203006/http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ge-amherstwilliams050309|archive-date = October 25, 2012|url-status = live}}</ref>

Amherst's growing athletics program has been the subject of controversy in recent years{{when|date=December 2018}} due to dramatic contrasts between the racial and socioeconomic makeup of its student athletes and the rest of its student body, the clustering of athletes in particular academic departments, and a perceived "divide" on campus between varsity athletes and other students. Athletic skill plays a factor in the admissions decisions of between 28% and 35% of each incoming class.<ref name="athletics-report">{{cite news |url=https://amherststudent.amherst.edu/article/2017/02/08/college-releases-report-state-athletics-program.html |title=College Releases Report on State of Athletics Program |newspaper=The Amherst Student |date=2017-02-08 |author=Isabel Tessier |access-date=January 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131045908/https://amherststudent.amherst.edu/article/2017/02/08/college-releases-report-state-athletics-program.html |archive-date=January 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
Amherst fields several club athletic teams, including [[Ultimate (sport)|ultimate]], [[soccer]], [[Rowing (sport)|crew]], [[rugby union]], [[water polo]], [[Equestrianism|equestrian]], [[mountain biking]], [[fencing]], [[sailing]] and [[skiing]]. [[Intramural sports]] include soccer, tennis, golf, basketball, volleyball and softball.

The sport of [[Ultimate (sport)|Ultimate]] was started and named at Amherst College in the mid-1960s by Jared Kass.<ref name=herndon>{{cite web|title=This is How it All Began: An Interview with Jared Kass |date=August 30, 2003 |first=Willie |last=Herndon |orig-date=Winter 2003 |url=http://www.ultimatehalloffame.org/sportstories/august.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107075156/http://www.ultimatehalloffame.org/sportstories/august.htm |archive-date=January 7, 2007 |work=ultimatehalloffame.org |format=reprinted with permission |publisher=Originally published in the [[USA Ultimate|Ultimate Players Association]] newsletter }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/origins-and-development-ultimate-frisbee |title=The Origins and Development of Ultimate Frisbee |author=Gerald Griggs |year=2009 |access-date=January 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229214400/http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/origins-and-development-ultimate-frisbee |archive-date=December 29, 2011 }}</ref>