On March 1 and 2, the men’s and women’s track and field teams attended the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships at the University of Chicago. On day one of the event, one Judge set a school record, while another earned All-UAA honors.
Peterly Leroy ’28 broke the school record for the 400-meter dash in the preliminaries with her time of 57.30 seconds. This broke the record previously held by Jessica Curlew ’03 that was set in 2002. Her time at the event, which was 19th in Division III this year, was second in this event to the sixth-fastest DIII time and earned her a spot in the finals. Hannah Bohbot-Dridi ’25 also qualified for the finals in the 400-meter with her time of 59.18 seconds.
Alisha Anderson ’26 became Brandeis’ first All-UAA pole vaulter since 2006. Her height of 3.48 meters earned her a third-place finish after tiebreakers. The height was tied with three other competitors, but Anderson had the tiebreaker due to clearing her first three heights without a miss.
Also scoring for the Judges was Emma Liu ’26, who finished in fifth place in the 20-pound weight throw. Her distance of 14.08 meters was her first scoring performance at UAAs. Shaniece Nugent ’26 set a personal record (PR) in the long jump with a distance of 5.36 meters, which was good for sixth place. Kevin Wright ’27 was the only scorer for the men on day one. His throw of 13.30 meters in the 35-pound weight throw was good for seventh place. Garret Rieden ’26 and TJ Carleo ’26 both qualified for the finals in the 800-meter run with a third-place time of 1:54.94 and a fourth-place time of 1:55.63 respectively.
For day one relays, both the men’s and women’s distance medley teams finished in seventh out of seven teams. The men’s team, consisting of Henry Nguyen (GRAD), TJ Showstead ’26, James Waters ’28 and Parker Cook ’28, finished with a time of 10:55.14, eight seconds behind sixth-place NYU. The women’s team of Kayla DiBenedetto ’25, Kyra Au ’25, Ella Warkentine ’26 and Sadie Harrow ’27 finished with a time of 12:38.34, six seconds behind Emory.
On day two, Sarai Sealy ’28 won the Judges’ first title since 2022 in the triple jump with a height of 12.23 meters. Her performance moved her into sixth place in the DIII standings. Leroy, who broke the school record in the preliminary round of the 400-meter, had a finals performance of 57.33 seconds, earning her a second-place finish and All-UAA honors. She is the first Judge to earn All-UAA honors in the 400 since 2020. Rieden finished in second place in the men’s 800-meter with a time of 1:52.84, earning him All-UAA honors. Also in the men’s 800 finals was Carleo, who earned eighth place with his time of 2:00.30. Bohbot-Dridi beat her preliminary time in the finals for the women’s 400, finishing in seventh with a time of 59.14 seconds.
In the high jump, the Judges had three scoring finishes. Aiana Colas ’26 finished in fourth place with a height of 1.58 meters. Kirsten Man ’25 finished in seventh place and Sophie Segal ’27 finished eighth. Both had a height of 1.53 meters. The women’s 4×400 relay team of Leroy, Jasmin Berganza ’28, Sealy and Bohbot-Dridi finished in fourth place with a time of 3:58.31. The men’s 4×400 relay team finished in sixth place. The team of Sam Rosen ’27, Carleo, Eli Wawersik ’28 and Rieden finished with a time of 3:28.37, just 0.37 seconds behind NYU.
The women’s team finished the UAA championships in fifth place with 51.5 points, their best finish since 2019. The men’s team finished in last place with just 18 points, although that is still a six-point improvement from last year’s performance.
On March 8, the Judges participated in the Tufts Last Chance meet, hoping to qualify for the NCAA DIII finals. The women’s team broke multiple school records at the event. Leroy beat her own record set a week prior, winning the 400 with a time of 56.87 seconds. She is the first Judge to ever finish in under 57 seconds. She also helped the 4×400 relay team break their record. The team of Leroy, Berganza, Sealy and Bohbot-Dridi finished in 3:53.97, breaking by 2.6 seconds a record that had stood since 1997.
Liu placed fifth in the 20-pound weight throw with a distance of 14.45 meters. Anderson was 11th in the pole vault with a height of 3.38 meters, while Segal finished eighth in the high jump, reaching a height of 1.54 meters. Bohbot-Dridi raced in the 400 and took fifth place with a time of 59.22 seconds, and Sealy ran the 60-meter dash in 7.999 seconds. For the men’s team, three Judges competed in the 800. Matthew Yue ’26 finished with a time of 7.19 seconds, earning seventh place. Jordan Colon ’25 finished in 7.21 seconds and Danny Krigman ’25 finished in 7.22 seconds.
Up next, three Judges will be participating in the NCAA DIII Finals on March 14 and 15. Sealy, who was named UAA Rookie of the Year, will be competing in the triple jump. She is the first Judge to compete in the NCAA triple jump finals since 2009. Leroy will be competing in the 400-meter as the 13th seed. She is the first women’s 400 qualifier since 2002. Rieden was the only Judge from the men’s team to qualify for the finals. He will be competing in the 800-meter. The Judges are hoping for a scoring performance in the NCAA finals. The women have not had a scoring finals performance since 2022 and the men have not had one since 2018.
Editor’s note: Sports Editor Calli Morvay, who is a member of the track and field team, was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.
