The Brandeis cross country teams competed in the Bowdoin College Invitational on Saturday. The women’s team remained undefeated, beating 18 other schools in the team’s first six-kilometer race of the year. The men’s team placed sixth out of 19 schools over the eight-kilometer course. 

The women’s team were again led by Emily Bryson ’19. She outpaced the competition, beating out the second place finisher by almost 30 seconds. Coming in third was Julia Bryson ’19, posting a time of 22 minutes, 16.3 seconds. Jac Guerra ’22 ran the race in 22:38.5, good for sixth overall. Danielle Bertaux ’20 was the fourth finisher for the Judges, taking 11th place overall with a time of 23:07. Niamh Kenney ’21 rounded out the Brandeis scorers, placing 18th with a time of 23:24.7. Brandeis, now ranked #22 in the nation, is starting to hit their stride and will make some noise once the scope of the meets gets larger and larger. 

The men’s team did not share the same success as the women’s, but individual runners shined as the team placed in the top third of the meet. Josh Lombardo ’21 ran the 8 km race in 26:37.7, good for 19th at the meet. Coming in right behind him was Matthew Driben ’22, who placed 20th with a time of 26:39.4. Dan Curley placed 40th with a time of 27:02.9. The last two Brandeis scorers were Alec Rodgers ’20 and Jacob Judd ’20, placing 68th and 69th with times of 28:00.02 and 28:04.0, respectively. 

In two weeks time, the Judges will split up and return to action at seperate meets. The men will travel to Wisconsin at a preview meet of the NCAA championships. The women will remain local and run at the Connecticut College Invitational.