Although senior cross country captain Bridget Pickard ’23 only had to travel 20 minutes when going from high school to college, she had to make plenty of adjustments during her transition. Ultimately, after three years at Brandeis, Pickard was selected to be one of the captains for the women’s cross country and track and field teams. The new role comes with new challenges, but if her previous years at Brandeis have said anything, it is that she is resilient and ready to make any adjustments necessary.
When Pickard first came to Brandeis it was a shocking experience. “I was a little intimidated,” said Pickard, “Everyone here works so hard … People tend to put way more effort into classes, which I really came to like because group projects are definitely easier than in high school.” Pickard has been running since she was young because a lot of her family members run; however, when coming to Brandeis, she not only had to adjust to the school academically but also competitively for running. The task seemed daunting; however, the cross-country team helped her out from the start.
“The team was so awesome right off the bat. Everyone was really friendly and outgoing, just really focused on making the team feel like a community,” said Pickard, “So as a freshman, I was welcomed in right away.”
With all that in mind, Pickard still had a tough first semester. “I was really homesick despite being only 20 minutes away,” said Pickard. Additionally, she had some trouble sleeping throughout her first year. This led to some tough days as she had to manage to stay awake throughout the day. Despite this, Pickard made the necessary adjustments to have a solid first year of cross country. In her first race at the Wellesley College invitational, she finished in 10th for the 5k event. “It was a good year in terms of adjusting because there was not a lot of pressure on me,” said Pickard, “I didn’t run my fastest times ever, but I had a pretty solid season.” On Nov. 2, 2019, Pickard got to participate in her first University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship. She finished with a time of 25:10.82 in the 6k race. Two weeks later, she also ran in her first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) New England Regional Championship. There she helped Brandeis finish 15th out 54 overall as her 6k time was nearly 40 seconds faster than her race just two weeks before.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the season was basically canceled. All the practices were outside, and the locker rooms were closed. “We didn’t have as much of a social team bonding aspect, which was really sad, because it is one of my favorite parts of the team,” said Pickard, “I would definitely say out of all the years I have spent here, sophomore year was probably my least favorite. Not because of anyone, just because of the situation.” To add onto the already tough year, Pickard ended up getting injured at the end of the year which caused her to be out for three months. The injury was not completely clear, however, she had to completely stop running during that time. In the summer she spent time starting to build that strength back up as she prepared for her second cross country season.
“Coming back into cross country for my junior year, I actually ran some fast times. I was really surprised by that because I just spent a lot of time being injured and not so much time training,” said Pickard. At the Wellesley College invitational in 2021, Pickard finished one place behind what she finished two years before; however she finished 35 seconds faster. Two weeks later at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth invitational, she was 12 seconds faster than at Wellesley. The improvement wasn’t random, though. Pickard attributes a lot of her success and improvement to her coach Sinead Delahunty Evans and her program. “She definitely knows what’s up in terms of training, running and everything. The training program we get is awesome and most people that enter into the Brandeis track and field program will improve and get better in the four years they are here,” said Pickard, “So having two years of this training under my belt, the consistency there really helped.” Even with this training program, it still takes individual work to be successful. “Bridget is very epic and hard working on and off the track. She’s been fast enough to touch two geese,” said teammate Juliette Intrieri ’24.
After a great overall year for the team, the women’s cross-country team had a chance to go to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships. “Waiting in the Napoli room, figuring out we had qualified for Nationals as a team, I don’t think I have had a moment like that in athletics before,” said Pickard, “It just felt so good.” During the season, Pickard set career highs in the 5k and 6k. This was just months after an injury that kept her from running for three months.
Nationals was a new experience for Pickard. “It is intimidating because you have the best of the best from DIII there,” said Pickard. “We even had some teammates surprise us by driving down overnight. It made me cry. I was feeling super emotional at the time.” The course was fast and different, but Pickard did not waiver. “In general, it was fun and fast. It felt like a ‘kinda over my head but also, I belong here’ experience,” said Pickard. Brandeis finished in 20th place at the competition, while Pickard set a career fastest time for the 6k competition.
Going into her final cross country season, Pickard was selected to be one of the captains for the team. She described how she was trying to take everything that she had learned from her previous captains and use what they had taught her to help her be a great captain this year. “I have had so many good captains in the past that I was able to rely on these people and ask them questions,” said Pickard, “They gave me so much good advice heading into this season … I am scared but I do feel prepared and I am really grateful for all the advice I received.” This season Pickard wants to break 19 minutes for the 5k and after the first competition, she appears to be on track to do so. Once again at the Wellesley College Invitational, she set a new personal best in the 5k. This time she finished the competition in fourth place with a time of 19:02.7. Her finish helped lead Brandeis to a team win in their first competition of the year. She gets two more chances to break 19 minutes in the 5k this year.
Each year something has been a little bit different for Pickard. She had a solid first year, but then COVID-19 hit. Then she had an injury before her junior season and proceeded to have an incredible year. How does Pickard make sure to stay focused before each race with so many things happening? She makes sure to have a routine that is full of music. “I love listening to music. It definitely relaxes me, and I do get nervous before races … Just sticking to what I know,” said Pickard, “If you just stick to what you know, you feel better about it because it’s almost mindless cause you don’t need to think about it. Just follow the motions. You know you have done the training—the hard part. It’s just time to show off what you have been doing.”
When asked about what her go-to song was before a race, Pickard replied with an answer that you may not expect: “I love Rico Nasty. I have gotten some funny comments where people say you do not look like a Rico Nasty type of person. But oh my god her stuff is so good.”
Before finishing the interview with The Brandeis Hoot, Pickard commented on how great the team was and how they were her best friends. She specifically wanted to comment on her co-captain, Victoria Morrongiello ’23, for cross country this year. “Victoria is an awesome captain too,” said Pickard, “She has been so wonderful to work with and I couldn’t be more lucky to have such a great partner.”
Editor-in-Chief Victoria Morrongiello ’23 is one of the captains of the cross country team and did not contribute to this article.
