On Sept. 23, the Brandeis Judges’ men’s and women’s cross-country teams traveled to Williamstown, Massachusetts to compete in the Williams Purple Valley Invitational. Also competing were host Wiliams College as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the United States Coast Guard Academy. The men’s team placed third overall while the women’s team placed fourth.
In the men’s eight-kilometer (8K) race, host Williams won with a finishing score of 23 points—10 ahead of MIT, who finished in second place. The Judges took third place with a total of 94 points, another 10 points ahead of fourth-place Coast Guard. Of the Judges’ runners, Lucas Dia ’25 was the top runner, finishing 32nd with a time of 27:15.1. TJ Carleo ’26 was next for the Judges, finishing 34th with a time of 27:24.9. Captain Willem Goff ’24 and Henry Nguyen ’24 placed 38th and 39th with times of 27:38.8 and 27:40.4 respectively. These times were personal records for both runners in the 8K race. Samuel Kim ’24 was fifth for the Judges, finishing in total 46th place with a time of 27:59.0—also an 8K personal record for the runner. Overall, the Judges had a 44-second spread between first and fifth place.
In the women’s six-kilometer (6K) race, MIT won with 23 points, with Williams second with 37 points and Coast Guard third with 80 points. The Judges placed fourth with 110 points. Finishing first for the Judges was Zada Forde ’25, placing 25th in the race with a time of 24:27.1—a top career team placement. Next for the Judges was Ella Warkentine ’26, who had a time of 24:49.9. This was Warkentine’s second 6K race in her career. Kyra Au ’25 and Lizzy Reynolds ’24 were third and fourth for the Judges—overall 33rd and 34th—with times of 25:28.6 and 25:29.3 respectively. Finally, Sadie Harrow ’27 finished fifth for the Judges and 36th overall with a time of 25:49.9. This was Harrow’s first collegiate 6K race. Overall, the women’s cross-country team finished with a spread of 1 minute and 22 seconds between their first and fifth-place runners.
The Judges’ cross-country teams will compete next weekend at the Keene State Invitational.
Editor’s note: Sports editor Calli Morvay ’26 did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.
