The Brandeis University indoor track and field team opened its 2018-19 campaign this weekend at the UMass Boston Invitational. The Judges saw one school record broken and had one event winner and five other top three finishes.
It did not take long for rookie Sonali Anderson ’22 to make her presence felt early on in her career. She was able to take over the school record in the 60-meter hurdles, running 9.70 seconds in the prelims and 9.62 in the finals to finish in sixth place. In the process, Anderson broke a record that had stood since the 2012-13 season.
The Judges’ lone winner from the weekend came from the men’s side, where Erez Needleman ’20 crossed the finish line first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:02.68. It was his third-fastest indoor time and was about a third of a second ahead of the runner-up.
Sophomore standout twin sisters Lisbeth and Leinni Valdez ’21 provided second and third place finishes in the 500-meter dash with times of 1:19.64 and 1:20.22, respectively. Lisbeth missed winning the race by three seconds.
Another second place finish came from Andrea Bolduc ’21 who finished runner up in the mile run with a personal best time of 5:20.74, the top collegian in the race. Doyin Ogundiran ’19 ran her first collegiate mile and came in fifth in 5:25.54. The Judges’ final second place finisher was Willa Moen ’20 who was the runner-up in the pole vault on tiebreakers with a height of 2.90 meters (9 feet, 6.25 inches).
Finishing third for the Judges was the women’s top dual threat, as rookie Devin Hiltunen ’22 was third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.59 and ninth in the 200 with a mark of 27.03 seconds. She was just about a second off the winning pace in the 400.
The Judges had one other finisher place in the top 10 in two events, men’s senior sprinter and captain Regan Charie ’19 came in sixth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.17 seconds and seventh in the 200 with a time of 23.02 seconds.
The other top ten performances on the women’s side came from Mahala Davis ’21 in the 1,000-meters, she came in sixth place with a time of 3:23.97. Christine Minor ’19 ran 3,000-meters, she came in eighth place with a time of 11:17.53. Lastly, rookie Erin Magill ’22 also ran 3,000-meters, finishing in 10th with a time of 11:23.43.
On the men’s side, Breylen Ammen ’21 finished in sixth place in the pole vault, 4.00 meters (13 feet and 1.5 inches). In the 400 meter Patrick Quinlan came in ninth with a time of 52.01. Eric Rosenheim ’21 ran the 1,000 meters, coming in ninth with a time of 2:50.21. Scott Grote ’19 finished sixth in the 35-pound throw, 15.65 meters (51 feet and 4.25 inches). Lastly, rookie Dionysus Morris Evans ’22 finished 10th in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.04.
