Both women's and men's cross country competed in the chilling rain on Friday in the Open New England Championships at Boston's Franklin Park. The Open New Englands bring together NCAA Division I, II and III teams, all of which are permitted to send seven runners per varsity race. Brandeis presented an impressive performance in both races. The women finished fourth among D-III schools and 12th overall, and the men finished 12th and 31st. In the women's 5k, the Judges were represented by Rachel Ackerman '05, Sarah Beckwith '05, Gretchen Chick '04, Co-captain Mariko Tansey Holbrook '03, co-captain Caitlin Malloy '03, Samantha Miller '04 and Sarah Romaine '06. Brandeis also sent one junior varsity runner, Victoria Romanenko '06, to the women's competition.

In the varsity race, Holbrook earned All-New England honors in the race with an eighth place finish (out of 282 runners) and a time of 17:42.

"She ran a spectacular race," Coach Jean Cann said. "She went out near the top and fought for every position at the end. She ran under 18:00 for the first time on this particular course and cracked that barrier by a long shot. She also beat several women who placed in the top 10 at Nationals last fall, which is a positive sign."

"The top seven all ran faster than they did on the same course two weeks ago," Cann said, referring to Sept. 27 Codfish Bowl, also held at Franklin Park."

"Caitlin Malloy and Gretchen Chick, two tough Mainers, pushed each other the whole way and really helped each other out," Cann said. "Our super frosh Sarah Romain never broke 20:00 on the Franklin Park course in high school, but dropped way under and really helped the team score - she's getting stronger and faster every week and she's a very smart racer."

"Our fifth runner of the day, Samantha Miller, has risen to a new level this year - she was flying by people the entire race and I'm looking forward to seeing what she'll accomplish the rest of the season," Cann said. "Sarah Beckwith broke 20:00 for the first time ever on any 5k course despite Franklin Park's hills and it being slightly longer than 5k."

"Rachel Ackerman has been reaching new mileage levels and is still improving so she will benefit when the meets (starting next week) get a kilometer longer," Cann said. "She's a tough racer with great endurance."

Holbrook agreed with her coach's assessment of the race.

"I think it was a good meet for everyone overall," she said. "Everybody got a personal record for the Franklin Park course (Friday) when they ran, which means they've improved."

More importantly, "the meet is a wonderful opportunity for us to run against very fast people, get some fast times and get some big meet experience before Regionals and Nationals in November," Cann said. "The top five teams at (Regionals) will qualify for nationals and we expect to be one of them, but we won't take any team lightly."

"Right now, prospects look good" for making Nationals, Holbrook said. The team's performance this week was "a confidence booster, but at the same time we know that we're not guaranteed a spot to Nationals yet, so we can't just relax."

As for the men, Brandeis was represented by Daniel Crespin '05, Greg Ferrell '03, Matt Greigo '05, A.J. Hutchinson '06, Daniel Nathan '04, Ryan Parker '06 and Aaron Skolnik '05 in the varsity race.

The competition "went really well for the whole team," Crespin said. "It was only the second race for the varsity this season," so the performance was particularly impressive and is one that the team expects to improve upon.

"The men's team standing doesn't tell the whole story," Cann said. "Every man ran faster than last year and the last race on this course, but we didn't place as well. The competition was just incredible - there were several nationally-ranked Division I and Division II, as well as top Division III schools."

Griego paced the Judges Friday with a time of 25:29, which put him in 60th place overall and in 20th among D-III runners. Remarkably, Griego put up the same time in 2001 and finished in 27th overall, which speaks to the high level of competition at this year's Open New Englands.

Brandeis men's cross country expects great things in the future, though.

"We can and will run even faster as a group," Cann said, "but I was pleased with the individual efforts, especially at this point in the season. We're trying to peak for mid-November so we've still got some work to do."

In addition, the men's team is a remarkably young one, whose first- and second-year runners show potential for great things in years to come.

"We have a few freshmen, Ryan Parker and A.J. Hutchinson, who are running great for freshmen. They're looking really strong," Crespin said.

Additionally, Brandeis' first and second place finishers, Griego and Crespin, are both sophomores, a fact which bodes well for the team's future.

With a few races scheduled between now and the Nov. 16 Regional Championships, the cross country team's endurance will be put to the test.