The men's and women's cross country teams kicked off their successful campaign last year with top-five finishes at the Shriners Invitational at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Brandeis is hoping that their equally successful start this year will pay dividends in the upcoming season.

Both squads finished in fifth place out of a field of 39 teams for the men and 38 teams for the women. The men finished with 206 points, only eight behind the United States Coast Guard Academy. The women meanwhile accumulated 232 points, earning a tie with Division-I Bryant University. The squad also fell nine points behind Coast Guard, which was in fourth place.

The invitational, which was held at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, consisted of an eight-kilometer course for the men and an equally challenging five-kilometer run for the women.
Ed Colvin '14, Alex Kramer '13 and Mik Kern '13 had the top three finishes for the Judges. The trio finished in 25 minutes, 11 seconds, 25:20 and 25:36, respectively, good for seventh, 12th, and 19th overall. They all ran personal bests following intense summer training sessions, according Kern.

"I'm especially excited to have been out there racing, let alone running a personal record, because I trained only last season and didn't race," said Kern, for whom the Dartmouth Invitational was his first collegiate varsity race. "The three of us pushed each other and ran together for the first four miles, then [Colvin] pulled ahead."

Jake Newfield '13, who finished the race in 27:08, said that the runners looked to utilize the Invitational as preparation for upcoming meets.

The women's team experienced similar success in its first race without former All-American and captain Kate Warwick '12. Victoria Sanford '14, who was the first Judge to finish the race, placing in 11th with a time of 18:50, noted that the new core of first-years should be of great help to the squad.

"The team gained five fast freshmen who have already displayed success and are determined to help the team," she said.

Erin Bisceglia '12, MA'13 finished in 19:18 for 31st place. Ali Kirsch '14 followed Bisceglia with a finish in 19:45, and Kelsey Whitaker '16, Maggie Hensel '16 and Molly Paris '16 raced to strong finishes in 20:03, 20:08 and 20:44, respectively. Kristi Pisarik '15 also finished with a time of 20:37.

Sanford explained that this meet provided a great opportunity for the Judges to fine-tune their techniques and see where they stood among other collegiate squads.

"We didn't really have any expectations going into the meet," said Sanford. "We just wanted to go out and run and see what would happen. Trying for fifth was a nice finish, and had we had Amelia [Lundkvist '14], we would have done even better."

Lundkvist, a veteran junior, has been struggling with injury since the summer and is expected to return for the second half of the season.

Both squads will next compete at the Open New England Championships, their first championship meet of the season, at Franklin Park in Boston on Oct. 6.
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