The men and women’s track and field team saw two runners finish in 12th place at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships last weekend, with Ryan Stender ’18 and Emily Bryson ’19 racing for their respective squads.

Stender represented the Judges in the men’s 3,000-meter race on Saturday afternoon as the 12th seed at the meet after recording the 14th-best time during the indoor season. He ran the race in 8:41.07 to match his seed, but was unable to crack the top-three New England runners at the event. 

Stender’s time was two seconds ahead of St. Olaf College senior Paul Escher and four seconds ahead of Trinity College senior Patrick Hogland, who finished last year’s event in 12th place. 

University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire junior Josh Thorson took the crown in 8:25.25 as part of the school’s second-straight national title.

Bryson completed the one-mile run in 5:04.62, earning 12th place in the preliminaries, four spots ahead of her seed. Her time was just over a second off her personal best and 97 hundredths out of the 10th spot, which would have seen her qualify for the finals. Bryson ran in the second of the two heats, finishing in a solid seventh place. 

Bryson was the first of the two rookies at the race to cross the finish line, outpacing Otterbein College freshman Claire Lamb by 14 seconds. She also finished her preliminary heat a full 10 seconds ahead of Swarthmore College senior Sarah Nielsen, who took an eighth-place finish in last year’s race for her team. Ultimately, Baldwin Wallace University took the team championship.

The Judges will open the outdoor season at the Bridgewater State Invitational on March 26.