After taking a week off from competition, the Mens and Womens cross country teams both ran at UMASS Dartmouth in the Dartmouth Invitational this weekend, with much success for both squads. There were thirty-one teams in the field at the event, making it the Judges first big meet of the year, and the Mens team was able to place third, while the Womens team earned fifth.
The Womens team had numerous individual standouts that allowed it to place high at the invitational. The first runner from Brandeis to cross the line was Co-captain Katy Agule 09. She completed the 5 kilometer course in 19 minutes and 14 seconds, ranking her 28th overall. Right behind Agule was teammate Marie Lemay 11 who finished the race with a time of 19 minutes and 21 seconds. This was the first collegiate 5K for the first-year, and she was able to finish with a ranking of 33rd overall.
The next Brandeis runner to cross the line was Co-captain Emily Terrin 08. She finished the course with a time of 19 minutes and 36 seconds, which was good enough to earn her 47th overall. Rounding out the Brandeis scorers were sophomore Ally Connolly and first-year Hannah Lindholm. They both ranked in the 50s and contributed to the Judges overall team score.
The men also had spectacular performances, with many of the team earning personal records for the 8K. John Guilinger 08 was the first Judge to cross the line, placing an impressive 11th overall. He was able to post a time of 25 minutes and 35 seconds, and added considerable points to the judges score. The next Brandeis runner to finish was rookie Paul Norton 11. He finshed 22nd overal and posted a time of 25 minutes and 53 seconds. Junior Matt Jennings was right behind his teamate with a time of just under 26 mintues, fast enough to earn him the ranking of 28th. Teamate Mike Stone followed close by with a time of 26 minutes even and rookie Mekonen Gendobo finished off the scoring for the Judges with a time of 26 minutes and 8 seconds.
The Mens team was altogether happy with its performance and excited for future competions. Senior Co-captain Dan Suher had much to say about his team's showing.
This weekend's meet went fairly well for the team as a whole, explained Suher, and extremely well for individuals. I think almost every person on the team, with very few exceptions, had personal best times in this race.
Suher went on to say that the meet indicated much about the teams composition, a dynamic that would lead to success in the future.
The big thing here when compared to years past is simply the depth, he said. Ten guys this weekend ran 26.45 or faster, and when you factor in some of the people who did not race, we could have 12-14 guys faster than that time.
The Womens side was equally excited and happy with the overall performance of the team. Co-captain Katy Agule thought that her teammates ran well, especially the first year additions to the squad.
The meet went really well this weekend commented Agule. All of the girls had great performances, especially those who had their first cross-country race ever. Most of the girls ran under 21 minutes.
Agule also believes that the results from the meet evidence team cohesion and a potential to do well in the future.
The fact that we all ran so close to one another shows how tight of a team we are and how much potential we have to run faster, she explained. Our next goal is to get everybody running under 20 minutes.
Both squads will get a shot to break their target times in a number of meets ahead. The Judges travel to the Connecticut College Invitational this Saturday and move onto bigger meets throughout the month of October. This strong showing, however, has energized the teams as they get ready for the meets ahead.
