It would have been enough for the No. 22 women's cross-country team to make it to the NCAA Division III Championships.

Not this team.

The squad, which began the year unranked and an afterthought on the national stage, capped a stellar season by gaining a bid to the NCAA Championships-held last Saturday in Hannover, Ind.-and finished in 22nd place out of 32 qualified teams.

Led by Amelia Lundkvist '14, who finished 21st overall in 21 minutes, 50.3 seconds and earned All-American honors, the women's squad scored 517 points, a score which left them just 18 points behind University Athletic Association rival No. 21 Washington University in St. Louis.

"I can't explain how it feels," Lundkvist said of her honor.

"I've worked so hard for so long and to finally achieve something like this feels so good. If someone told me this summer that I'd be 21st in the country, I definitely wouldn't have believed them."

In the beginning of the year, the Judges were seen as nothing more than an average DIII team.

Although the UAA put five of its eight teams in the preseason top-35 national coaches' poll, the Judges were one of the three UAA teams on the outside looking in.

Brandeis stormed out to a strong season opener in late August, defeating the University of Southern Maine 20-43. The Huskies, meanwhile, entered the meet as the 10th ranked team in the National Coaches' Poll for the New England region.
Judges co-captain Victoria Sanford '14 said their victory over the Huskies set the tone for this year's season.

"It set us in the right mode," she explained. "We weren't known before that [meet]. We were going out there to get experience but knowing they were 10th and then beating them was helpful. It was a really good way to get us off in the right direction."

As the Judges rattled off impressive finishes in the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Shriner's Invitational, the Keene State Invitational-the team's first multi-team meet victory since 2009-and the Connecticut College Invitational, they gradually began to gain national attention.

In the sixth edition of the National Coaches' Poll, released on Oct. 23, the Judges finally saw their impressive efforts pay off with a spot in the top-35 rankings.

The Judges earned a 33rd-place ranking that week, marking the first time Brandeis had appeared in the poll since the fourth edition of the 2010 season.

The team responded well to their spot in the national ranking, taking home a third-place finish at the UAA Championships. The team finished behind New York University, ranked sixth nationally at the time, and the University of Chicago, the 17th-ranked squad that week.

Meanwhile, the Judges finished four points ahead of WashU-ranked second nationally at the time of the UAA Championships.

The national rankings reflected the strong performance of the Judges, who then jumped 11 spots to 22nd in the Nov. 6 edition of the poll, the highest ranking Brandeis had achieved since their No. 20 ranking in 2010.

After the team finished in fifth-place out of 53 competing teams in New England Division III Regionals, the stage had been set. The Judges maintained their 22nd spot in the poll and earned a spot to the NCAA Championships.

At the championships, the Judges fought through a difficult course to earn a finish in line with their national ranking.

Sanford stressed the difficulty posed by both the weather and the course itself.

"It was a tough race, the coldest conditions we have ever run in," she explained.

"It was very overwhelming to be competing at that level."
Lundkvist started off the six-kilometer race in conservative fashion, covering the first third of the race in 7:24. However, she was able to close hard over the next four kilometers and finished strong.

Maddie Dolins '17 capped her first year of collegiate cross-country in style, cracking the top 100 with her 91st-place finish. Dolins, an All-New England Honoree at the New England Division III Regional Championship, covered the undulating course in 22:35.2.

Kelsey Whitaker '16 cracked the 23-minute barrier, running 22:58.1, good for 155th place.

Sanford, who along with Lundkvist and Dolins, was also an All-New England Honoree, finished off her cross-country career with a strong effort for 164th place, completing the course in 23:02.5.

Ashley Piccirillo '17 completed her first year as the final scorer for Brandeis, timing in at 24:00.8.

Kate Farrell '17 and Maggie Hensel '16 also ran in the showpiece occasion, finishing with times of 25:02.06 and 25:16.00, respectively.

Sanford maintained a positive outlook on the day, even while looking for room to improve.

"On a team level we didn't do as well as we had hoped," she explained. "Runners are always looking to improve and it would have been nice to finish inside the top 20 [teams]."

"I'm a little sad that we didn't crack the top 20, but the fact [that we did so well] is a huge accomplishment and I think it'll be a huge help moving forward."

Lundkvist echoed her co-captain's enthusiasm about the race the Judges ran.

"We all got out really well, which was good," she explained.
"I think people were a little disappointed with their races, but to compete at that caliber is an achievement in itself and I think they remembered that.

Considering it was everyone's first time at Nationals-and we had three freshmen-everyone was brave and we ran to expectation since we were 22nd," she said.

While the losses of Lundkvist and Sanford to graduation will leave large shoes to fill, the Judges bring back ample talent and should compete in future years.

"Next year looks great," Lundkvist said. "They're losing me and Vicky but we are so young."

"We had a freshman in the top five and two sophomores and these girls are only going to get better. I'm excited to see what they're going to do next."

On the heels of this season, they have every right to be optimistic moving forward into the spring season and beyond.

- Avi Gold contributed reporting
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