At the Open New England Championships last Saturday, the women's cross country team's efforts were spearheaded by Grayce Selig '11, who placed seventh out of 322 runners with a time of 17 minutes, 4 7 seconds. This finish was only 53 seconds behind the first-place runner, University of Maine junior Corey Connor, who had a time of 16:54.Coach John Evans admired Selig's efforts at the meet.

"[Selig] had a phenomenal run," Evans said. "She was running with the top [Division I] girls in New England. . She ran a minute faster than she did at this time last year, and that puts her up there to be one of the best [Division III] runners in the nation right now."

Overall, the women's cross country squad placed 22nd at the event out of 47 Division I, II and III squads last Saturday, while the men's cross country team placed 20th out of 47.

At the meet, the men ran 8 kilometers while the women completed a 5-kilometer race.

Kate Warwick '12 finished 70th overall and had a time of 18:58. Erin Bisceglia '12 placed 177th overall with a time of 20:05, while Amelia Lundkvist '14 finished 1 second after Bisceglia and placed 178th overall with a time of 20:06. Ali Kirsch '14 finished the race 220th overall with a time of 20:43.

At last year's event, the women finished 20th overall. Evans was optimistic in looking toward the future and onto more meaningful meets for the team.

Brandeis sent seven male runners to the race, led by Chris Brown '12 who finished with a time of 25 minutes, 49 seconds and placed 62nd out of 318 competitors. In a tight race, the 15 runners who finished immediately before Brown all crossed the finish line within 10 seconds of each other.

Notably absent from the Brandeis squad were Paul Norton '11 and Marc Boutin '12, who coach John Evans said were "training" and unable to race. Although the Brandeis men's team came in 20th this past weekend, Evans said that if Norton and Boutin participated, the team "probably would have won."

Brown was still disappointed by the team's performance despite the team missing two of its best runners.

"We were without two of our top runners, so we knew it wasn't going to be our best performance," Brown said. "But we still expected to do a little bit better team-wise than we did."

Evans said that Norton will return and compete next weekend, but Boutin's status is still undetermined.

The other Brandeis runners at the meet were Kerwin Vega '11 who ran his way to 70th overall with a time of 25:54; Taylor Dundas '14, who finished 118th overall with a time of 26:18; and Dan Anastos '11, who placed 122nd with a time of 26:21.

Alex Kramer '13 finished 135th overall with a time of 26:25 and was followed by Devon Holgate '11, who placed 162nd with a time of 26:43. Ed Colvin '14 finished 169th overall with a time of 26:47.

Last year at the Open New England Championships, Brandeis finished third among Division III schools and 11th out of 47 schools.

Norton finished the race sixth out of 320 runners with a time of 24:26. At that meet, Brown finished 43rd with a time of 25:39, while Boutin finished a mere 4 seconds later to place 50th overall.

"Our goal is always to get ready for University Athletic Association Championships and Regionals," Evans said. "We're on track, ... and we'll be ready."

The cross country teams have their next meet this Saturday at the University of Albany Invitational at 9:30 a.m.