On Oct. 29, the Brandeis University men’s cross country team placed eighth overall and the women’s cross country team placed seventh overall at the 2022 University Athletic Association (UAA) championships hosted by Emory University at Nash Battlefield Farm in Atlanta.
The men’s team was paced by senior Matthew Driben ’23. Driben placed 50th overall with a time of 26:30.3 over the eight-kilometer course. He matched his previous career-best at a UAA tournament with his 2019 placement. First-year TJ Carleo ’26 was the team’s second finisher for the second time this season, the first since the season opener at Wellesley. He set a personal record for the 8K course with a time of 26:41.3, 2.1 seconds ahead of his previous best. Carleo placed 56th. Brandeis’ third runner was first-year Rob King ’26, the first time he was that high for the Judges. He came in 62nd with a time of 27:00.3, a career-best by 11 seconds. Sophomore Lucas Dia ’25 was fourth with a time of 27:27.6, good for 68th place. He improved by four places from his UAA debut last year. Junior Henry Nguyen ’24 and sophomore Dashiell Janicki ’25 rounded out the scoring for the Judges, placing 73rd and 74th, respectively with times of 29:04.2 and 29:11.6. Nguyen’s time was a personal record.
The women’s team was led by junior Juliette Intrieri ’24 for the second meet in a row finishing in 26th place with a time of 23:02.3 over the six-kilometer course. She was about 20 seconds off her personal record for 6K, set a week earlier, and she improved her best UAA performance by 18 places. Running second for the team was senior Bridget Pickard ’23, who placed 32nd overall with a time of 23:16.0, just 14 seconds behind her teammate. She shaved eight seconds off her personal record and improved by 35 places. Junior Lizzy Reynolds ’24 was the team’s third runner, coming in 39th with a time of 23:35.7. She was eight seconds off her personal record and improved by 19 places in the standings. Junior Zada Forde ’24 ran fourth, taking 50th place with a time of 23:49.9. missing a personal recprd by 14 seconds. First-year Ella Werkentine ’26 rounded out the Judges’ top five with a 63rd-place finish and a time of 24:28.2. Junior Katie Lyon ’24 and first-year Katriona Briggs ’26 rounded out the top seven in 66th and 69th place with times of 24:50.2 and 25:03.4. The Judges finished with 184 points, 30 ahead of the University of Rochester and 13 behind Carnegie Mellon University.
The Judges will compete at the 2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) East Region Championships in two weeks at Bowdoin College.
Editor’s Note: Editor-in-Chief Victoria Morrongiello ’23 is co-captain of the women’s cross-country team and did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.
