In the second meet of 2023, the Brandeis University track and field teams placed in the top five at the Branwen Smith-King Invitational held at Tufts University on Jan. 21. The women’s track and field team placed fifth, earning 60 points, while the men’s squad tied for third place with the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, earning 90 points. 

While earning fifth overall on the day, the Judges had a couple of top five finishes, as well as top 10 finishes, from the women at the Branwen Smith-King International. Veteran athlete Bridget Pickard ’23 earned first place overall in the mile run with a time of 5:21.67; Pickard finished 0.39 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Teammate Kyra Au ’25 also competed in the mile race and finished seventh overall with a time of 5:51.15.

The 4×400-meter relay team—comprised of Yahni Lapa ’23, Victoria Morrongiello ’23, Hannah Bohbot-Dridi ’25 and Kayla DiBenedetto ’25—was runner up with a time of 4:20.58, behind only the Tufts University Jumbos. 

The Brandeis women’s squad had three runners place third in each of the following three events: 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and the 1000-meter run. Alya Campbell ’24 finished third overall with a time of 9.47 in the 60-meter hurdles, while classmate Smiley Huynh ’24 secured the bronze with a height of 3.30 meters in the pole vault competition. The Judges saw two top five finishes in the 1,000-meter run, with sophomore runner DiBenedetto earning third with a time of 3:11.72 and rookie Ella Warkentine ’26 earning fifth in the event in 3:16.70. 

Liz Korn ’24 represented Brandeis in the women’s pentathlon event—her first of the season—with a mark of 2635 points. A women’s pentathlon comprises five different track and field events, including sprint hurdling, high jump, shot put, long jump and a flat race. Korn’s impressive score resulted in a fourth-place finish overall in the Branwen Smith-King Invitational. 

In the final field events of the day, rookie Shaniece Nugent ’26 scored in two events, placing fourth in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump. Teammates Kirsten Man ’25 and Alisha Anderson ’26 placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in the triple jump event; and rookie Emma Liu ’26 secured eighth place in the weight throw. 

The Brandeis men’s track and field squad saw a number of top 10 finishes throughout the day, as well, allowing the Judges to tie for third overall with Coast Guard Academy at the Branwen Smith-King Invitational. 

Rookie TJ Carleo ’26 earned gold in two events—the 1,000-meter run and the 4×400 meter relay. Carleo finished the 1000-meter run in 2:31.91, nearly six seconds faster than teammate Samuel Kim ’24 who took second in 2:38.65. Carleo was joined by Kim, Parker Jones ’24 and Leo Schiappa ’26 in the 4×400 meter relay win with a time of 3:34.95. 

Dion Morris Evans ’23 had an impressive all-around performance, scoring in three different events. Morris-Evans secured third in both the long jump and the 60-meter hurdles; he placed sixth overall in the high jump. 

The mile run was Brandeis’ strongest event, as four Judges had scoring performances. Willem Goff ’24 earned second, while Spencer Lee ’25 was fifth; Henry Nguyen ’24 placed seventh and rookie Dylan Zhao ’26 earned eighth, winning his heat in 4:59.83. Young Wang ’24 found his way into fourth place in the 600-meter event in 1:32.77, as did senior Taylor Diamond ’23 in the 800-meter in 2:12.92. Sprinter Danny Krigman ’25 earned fourth in the 60-meter in 7.29 seconds after running 7.34 in the preliminaries. 

The men’s squad was also successful in the field events, as Jones took sixth in the long jump and Ori Slotky ’24 and Lin Lin Hutchinson ’25 took third and fifth place, respectively, in the triple jump. Veteran Jonathan Hau ’23 placed eighth overall in the 35-pound weight throw. Lastly, TJ Showstead ’26 placed sixth overall in his first collegiate heptathlon—seven events consisting of 60 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1000 meters—with 3337; he also finished second overall in hurdles and third in the 1000-meter.

The Brandeis women’s and men’s track and field teams return to action on Jan. 28 at the River Hawk Invitational held at the Track at New Balance. 

Editor’s Note: Editor-In-Chief Victoria Morrongiello, Deputy Sports Editor Calli Morvay and Layout Editor Erik Lopez did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.