The men’s and women’s cross country teams are in the home stretch of their 2018 season. On Oct. 28, the teams traveled to Parkside, Wisconsin, to compete in the UAA Conference championships. In the upcoming weeks, they’ll begin NCAA competition, starting with their regional meet where they’ll qualify to compete in the NCAA national meet.

Last weekend, the women raced hard, earning the overall third spot in the UAA, led by a few strong individual showings.

Team captain Emily Bryson ’19 yet again led the charge for the women, completing the race in second place behind a Washington University runner. This was Bryson’s fourth year in a row finishing within the top four and earning a spot on the UAA first team. She is the first runner in Brandeis history to achieve four UAA first team titles.

Close behind her, Julia Bryson ’19 continued Brandeis’ presence in the top ten. Finishing in 10th place, J. Bryson achieved an all-time personal best by over 30 seconds.

Two more runners finished in the top twenty of the UAA meet, propelling the Judges to the third place overall position. Danielle Bertaux ’20 finished 17th, a marked improvement from her last season’s performance where she finished 38th overall. Her teammate, Niamh Kennedy ’21, wasn’t far behind finishing 19th overall. In her rookie season last year, Kennedy finished 37th overall, improving her result by 18 spots.

On the men’s side, the team didn’t see such strong results. They finished eighth overall, but secured one runner in the top 50. Josh Lombardo ’21 completed the race in 44th place, a 25 spot improvement from his rookie season.

The cross country teams have a weekend off before heading to Bowdoin, Maine, to compete in the NCAA regional meet on Saturday, Nov. 10. In that meet, the teams will look to qualify runners for the NCAA national meet, which will be held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 17.