After falling short of qualifying for the outdoor NCAA Championships at the Last Chance Meet last May, Meaghan Casey '09 admitted she was rusty because she spent last semester studying abroad in Spain."This was my very first meet for this year," Casey said. "I ran what I wanted to run. It takes me a while to get back into the mode. It's definitely not where I want to be for the season."

That rustiness, however, still resulted in a time that was the best among University Athletic Association competitors in the 800-meter event, one of several strong finishes for both the men's and women's teams in the Terrier Invitational at Boston University last Friday and Saturday, a meet that included several Division I schools. Nine of 10 women's distance runners and 13 of 14 men's distance runners ran season-high times for Brandeis, and several others also had career-bests.

"You can have your best times if you run against better people," co-head coach Mark Reytblat said.

Because of the competition, Casey's time of 2 minutes, 21.65 seconds placed her just 30th among 58 competitors in the event, but the coaches expect her to continue to improve this season.

"[Casey's] definitely a little rusty, but she's so tough," co-head coach John Evans said. "We have big plans for Casey. I think by the time of the New England Championships, she'll be in much better shape."

The other two Brandeis competitors in the 800-meter event also garnered season-high times. Emily Owen '11 finished 36th in 2:24.61, and Julia Alpaio '10 was 39th in 2:26.40.

The Judges also got season-best performances from every member who competed in the one-mile run event. Marie Lemay '11 led the way, shaving six seconds off her previous best time to finish 25th out of 73 runners and first among Division III competitors in 5:14.42. Beth Pisarik '10 finished in 31st place in 5:17.04, for her best time of the season, and Hannah Lindholm '11, whose time of 5:21.18 was eight seconds faster than her previous best, finished 39th.

In field events, Ali Sax '09 struggled. After winning the long and triple jumps at last weekend's Reggie Poyau Invitational, she finished with a leap of 4.59 meters in the long jump, .37 meters less than last week.

"I had a fever, but I don't really want to make excuses," Sax said.

On the men's side, three rookies led the way in the 3,000-meter event with career-best times. Paul Norton '11 finished 38th out of 97 competitors in 8:45.12, while Dan Anastos '11 and Mekonen Gendebo '11 finished 42nd and 49th with times of 8:46.38 and 8:50.08, respectively.

"[The rookies] definitely plowed through [the event]," captain Pat Gregoire '08 said. "[Evans] does a great job of training them and keeping the morale up."

"It was a really promising day, not only for this year, but for the future," Evans added.

In the one-mile run, Matt Jennings '09 posted the second-fastest Division III time in the event, finishing 23rd out of 97 competitors with a time of 4:16.49. Dan Suher '08 was just behind Jennings, finishing 34th with a personal-best time of 4:19.32.

"It was a personal best for me, so I was definitely pleased with that," Suher said. "But there was definitely the ability for me to have gone faster in the race. Tactically, there were some mistakes that I made that cost me a second or two."

In field events, Frank Longo '08 finished in eighth place out of 20 competitors in the triple-jump event with a leap of 12.87 meters.

The track teams' next race is at the Tufts Invitational in Medford, Mass., Saturday at 10 a.m.