The women's track team and part of the men's team competed in the Terrier Classic in Boston on Saturday, while the rest of the men traveled to Gorham, Maine, to run in the University of Southern Maine Invitational.
The Second Annual Terrier Invitational, held at Boston University, featured some of the premiere track programs in the country, ranging from Divisions I to III. In addition to elite runners who were flown in internationally, teams sponsored by Nike, Adidas and Reebok competed in Saturday's meet.
The Brandeis women fared well in a pool that included many talented competitors. Katie Schill '05 finished 23rd out of 63 runners in the 400-meter dash, right in front of teammate Jane Farrell '06, who finished 25th.
[Schill] has made a great impact on the team," captain Gretchen Chick '04 said.
Chick also had a good day, coming in 16th out of 60 in the one-mile event. However, the highlight of the day for the Judges was the success of their distance medley relay team, which for the third consecutive year, qualified for the NCAA Championships with a time of 12:15.14, earning a third-place finish and defeating Divison I schools Fordham, Vermont and St. John's. The team consisted of first-years Camille Stevens-Meghan Bisceglia, Farrell and Chick.
With this performance, the women proved they could compete with the best, no matter the level of experience each member may have with college-level competition. "The freshmen proved they are just as capable as the seniors. The season is starting off on a good note, and we look to improve on our initial performances," said Chick, excitedly.
The competition was just as fierce on the men's side, but Brandeis held its own. Captain Ben Oh '04 finished 4th in his section of the 55-meter dash while Ryan Parker '05, who has had a very successful season so far, finished 2nd in his pool for the 400-meter dash. Dan Crespin '05 and Pete Vigneron '07, who have both been enjoying fine performances this season, tied for seventh in their section of the 3000-meter run with a time of 8:45.
The high level of competition could have intimidated the Judges, but instead made them try harder.
"It was fun just being in that atmosphere," Oh said. "We were running against world-class runners, some of who are going to be competing in the Olympic trials, so taking that into consideration, I think we rose to the challenge. We ran our best."
Meanwhile, as their teammates were battling the cream of the crop in Boston, the rest of the men's team trekked to Maine and finished fifth out of seventh at the USM Invitational Meet. The Judges barely edged Salem State College by 2 points, while Bates captured the first place title. Sophomore Jackson Weber had a banner day, finishing 1st in the 600-meter run, while graduate student and captain Abe Weingrad took home 4th in the men's weight throw with a toss of 14.39 meters.
Next up for both the men and women is the Greater Boston Meet at Harvard next Saturday.