Competing for the first time in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championships at Springfield College last Friday, women's track team runner Beth Pisarik '10 didn't know what to expect.But despite her inexperience, Pisarik ran the 1500-meter race in 4 minutes, 49.06 seconds, better than her qualifying time of 4:51.04, placing 15th out of 31 runners.

"My goal was to run under 4:50, so I just made it," Pisarik said. "I was kind of lucky in that I was able to [finish] in the time that I wanted."

In fact, two out of the three Brandeis women's track team members competing in the event improved on their qualifying times. The third ran a mere half second above her qualifying time.

To qualify for ECACs, runners need to surpass a certain qualifying time that is different for each event.

Marie Lemay '11 was the squad's highest finisher, earning 11th place in the 1500-meter run. Lemay ran a 4:44.68, just slightly higher than her qualifying time of 4:44.17.

Fellow rookie Grayce Selig '11 also competed in the 1500-meter race. Selig, who had the 28th-fastest time out of 37 competitors going into the race, improved her qualifying time of 4:51.78 to finish in 19th place in 4:50.91, a personal best.

"They've been really great to train with and . they're both really great runners," Pisarik said of her teammates. "I was really happy with the way they did . I think we all trained the right way before the end of the season."

Men's team runner Dan Anastos '11 was impressed with the race strategy employed by his female counterparts.

"They've been working on really getting out in the race and getting in a good position and just settling in and then making their move at the right time with a few hundred meters left in the race," Anastos said. "They really ran with confidence."

The men, on the other hand, could not build off the women's team's success, with all four participants posting results slower than their qualifying times.

"We all expected to do better," Anastos said. "We definitely can on our good days go out and compete with the competition."

Matt Jennings '09, Mike Stone '09 and Dan Suher '08 each ran in the 1500-meter event. Going into the race, Jennings had the fastest qualifying time, 3:56.97, of the three. Despite having the 10th-best time among all qualifiers, however, he took 20th out of 23 competitors, finishing in 4:07.94.

Jennings was not the only member of his team to struggle in the race. Both Suher and Stone ran more slowly than their original qualifying times. Suher, who had run a time of 4:01.01 to qualify for ECACs, finished in 17th place in 4:05.61. Stone ran the fastest of the three, finishing in 4:04.92, even though he initially had the slowest qualifying time at 4:01.77.

Anastos, who ran in the 5000-meter event, was the only other member of the track teams to compete. He qualified in 15:28.12, well ahead of the minimum 15:33 qualifying time. At Springfield he ran close to 17 seconds behind his original pace, finishing with a time of 15:44.54 Still, Anastos was optimistic about his overall performance in his rookie season.

"It was really exciting to get into [ECACs] my freshman year," he said. "I feel like I have an idea of what's to come in the next few years."

-Julie Ganz and Jeffrey Pickette contributed reporting