The Brandeis University men's and women's cross-country teams got their respective seasons off to strong starts at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Shriners' Invitational on Saturday.

Without captain Ed Colvin '14, who usually sets the pace for the men's team, the Judges still finished sixth out of 28 teams at the competition. Jarret Harrigan '15 and Quinton Hoey '17 who finished 21st and 22nd, respectively, paced the Judges. Both comeptitors averaged just under five minutes, 20 seconds per mile and impressed coach John Evans.

"We're a young team, with three first-years, and it'll be a transition year for them. They all came together pretty well," he said.

In addition to the men's success in their races, the women-much to the delight of Evans-took second out of 29 competing teams in the five-kilometer run.

The Judges took three of the top six overall times, five of the top 25 times, and an individual win from co-captain Amelia Lundkvist '14, who covered the five-kilometer course in 18 minutes, 15 seconds. The variety of strong results led the Judges to a second-place finish behind Rowan University, which won the meet with 45 points, which was six better than Brandeis' tally of 51 points.

Lundkvist was not the only strong performer for the women's squad, though. Maddie Dolins '17 had an impressive day, edging co-captain Victoria Sanford '14 for a sixth-place finish in 18:39, giving the Judges three runners in the top 10 overall places.
"The women ran really well," said Evans. "It was a big step up from previous years and I was really pleased."
In addition to the three runners in the top 10, the Judges snuck one more into the top 20, which was rounded out with Kelsey Whitaker '16, who finished in 19:25.

"Amelia ran incredible and Dolins stepped in. [Those two and Sanford] give us a really great top three," remarked Evans.

Putting four runners in the top 20 is certainly a notable achievement, but the Judges were lucky to have runners finishing right outside those places. First-year Ashley Piccirillo-Horan '17 just missed the top 20 while rounding out the Judges' scoring on the day, finishing in 23rd, a mere two seconds behind Whitaker at 19:25.

Additionally, Maggie Hensel '15, whose finish in 20:45 placed her in the top 100, provided depth for the squad.

The men were also successful in their pursuit of having quality performances in the team's five leading runners.

Behind Harrigan and Hoey, they received impressive performances from Michael Rosenbach '15 and Matt Doran '17. Rosenbach averaged five minutes, 26 seconds per mile to finish the eight-kilometer race in 27 minutes even, good for 33rd place. Doran's pace of five minutes, 30 seconds per mile saw him finish in 41st place at 27 minutes, 11 seconds.

Scoring for the men's team-which was made more challenging by the fact that they were one of only three schools to bring the minimum five competitors to the competition-was rounded out by newcomer Daniel Leon '17, who finished 108th out of 210 racers, covering the distance in 29:03, which was an average of five minutes, 49 seconds per mile.

Although the Judges finished just outside the top five as a team, the showing was impressive considering the small number of competitors they featured.

With these early-season successes, the men's and women's cross-country teams have reason to be confident about their future performances. As a result, Evans looks at these performances as a metaphorical stepping stone to something bigger and better.

"It was a promising start," he said. "We will move on to the next race [on Oct. 5], and we're going to hopefully be in the mix at the end of the season."

Both teams will have opportunities to prove themselves when they each travel to Keene, N.H. for the Keene State College Invitational on Oct. 5.

A week after that, on Oct. 12, they will find themselves competing against the best teams from all division in the region at the Open New England Championships to be held at Franklin Park in Boston.