The Brandeis University men’s and women’s cross country teams both ran to victory Friday at Wellesley College. The men’s team had the top 11 runners to defeat Regis College, 15-50, while the women edged the host Blue, 40-43, and two other teams. 

In men’s highlights: Senior Matthew Driben ’23, picked up the win of the meet, covering the 5K course in 16:03.9. It was his second career win at the meet and the fifth top-five cross country performance of his career. First-year TJ Carleo ’26 was second in his collegiate debut with a time of 16:30.1. Junior Willem Goff ’24 was third in 16:32.5, while sophomore Daniel Frost ’25 was fourth in 16:48.9, a second better than his performance last year at the meet. Sophomore Lucas Dia ’25 was fifth in 16:59.1, giving the Judges 56-second spread among their top five runners. 

In women’s highlights: The women had five of the top 15 runners to edge past Wellesley. Senior captain Bridget Pickard ’23 led the way with a fourth-place finish. She covered the course in 19:02.7, 36 seconds off the winning time by a runner from Mount Holyoke College. The time was an 18-second personal record for Pickard. First-year runner Katriona Briggs ’26 was 11 seconds behind Pickard in fifth place with a time of 19:13.7. Junior Juliette Intrieri ’24 was third with a time of 19:41.9. Junior Katie Lyon ’24 made her second collegiate race count with a 12th-place finish of 20:24.4 and junior Kyra Au ’24 finished up the top five with a time of 20:43.9, good for 15th place. The Judges’ spread of 1:41 amongst their top five was 26 seconds better than Wellesley’s. Overall an outstanding race for the Judges and a strong head start for the beginning of the season. 

The Judges run again on Sept. 17th at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Editor-In-Chief Victoria Morrongiello is captain of the women’s cross country team and did not contribute to this article.