UPDATED 11/17 at 10:17 p.m.
The 12th ranked women’s cross country team ran their way to a fourth place finish out of 57 teams at the 2018 NCAA Division III New England Championships, held at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, M.E. The men finished 23rd out of 58 teams with 706 points.
The women Judges were led by senior tri-captain Emily Bryson ’19, who finished as the runner-up for the event, finishing the six-kilometer course in 21:03.79, a new personal best for the senior. She trailed the winner, Kaitlyn Mooney of Coast Guard by 20 seconds, according to The Brandeis Judges website. E. Bryson adds to her titles senior year with a four-time All-New England selection.
Trailing close behind E. Bryson was her twin sister, Julia Bryson ’19, who finished the race in seventh place with a time of 22:09.19, achieving a new personal record by 20 seconds. Having improved 17 places since her junior year season, J. Bryson received her second All-New England cross country honor.
Niamh Kenney ’21, who finished third for the Judges, finished the race in 21st overall with a time of 22:29.30, having improved 41 places since her debut season at the championships by shaving 12 seconds off her time. She also received All-New England honors.
With E. Bryson, J. Bryson and Kenney all receiving All-New England selections, this marks the first time the Judges have had three runners receive All-Region selections in the same season since the 2013 NCAA qualifying team.
Jac Guerra ’22 and Meaghan Barry ’19 rounded out the top five for the Judges at 23:03.58 and 23:16.05, respectively. Guerra’s performance landed him at the 46th position overall and Barry’s at the 60th position overall. This was Guerra’s second-best performance all season, and Barry’s best performance of the season.
The final two runners for The Judges were Danielle Bertaux ’20 and Doyin Ogundiran ’19. Bertaux placed 78th overall with a time of 23:25, having risen over 200 places from her sophomore season. Ogundiran finished 105th with a time of 24:01.03. She is attempting to reach the national championships for the third season in a row and for the first time in cross country, having previously only qualified during track season.
The Judges finished the meet with 136 points, coming 21 points before third-place Williams College with 115 points. MIT won the race, finishing with 87 points, followed by Middlebury College with 108 points.
On the men’s side, Josh Lombardo ’21 was the top finisher for the Judges for the fifth time of the season, competing in his home state. In his maiden run at the New England Championships, he finished 100th overall with a time of 27:03.06 on the eight kilometer course. Co-captain Dan Curley ’20 finished close behind Lombardo in 102nd place with a time of 27:05.15.
Rookies Matthew Driben ’22 and Simon Powley ’22 finished in 133rd and 161st, respectively. Driben ran a 27:30.29 race while Powley ran a 28:11.97 race. Eric Rosenheim ’21 completed the race at 212th place with a time of 28:54.31, while Erez Needleman ’20 finished the race in 236th place with a time of 29:23.40, rounding out all the runners from Brandeis.
Following the results from all the regional championships, the NCAA chose 32 teams to compete and the championships. The top two seven-person teams automatically qualify from each of the eight different regions, while sixteen other schools were selected for at-large bids. The first seven athletes from each region who were not part of a qualifying team were also selected to participate the meet.
Brandeis received an at-large bid for nationals while the men failed to qualify as a team or with any individuals. The NCAA Championships will be held at Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, W.I. on Nov. 17, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to Jac Guerra ’22 by she/her/hers pronouns. Guerra uses he/him/his pronouns.
