The Judges' performance at the track meet at Bowdoin College last Saturday was much more successful than the scores may have shown, as Brandeis scored fewer points in team competition but was anchored by solid individual performances.Flu season took its toll on both Brandeis teams, and only a small number of runners participated in the meet because of injuries and sickness.

"Many of the distance runners were sick, and we're all a little rusty," co-captain Remy Coyle '07 said. "We did okay under the circumstances."

This, in addition to the smaller size of the Brandeis teams in comparison to their opponents' gives them less of a chance to win meets, but does not take away from the potential for solid individual showings.

The Bowdoin Invitational was no different, with the Judges taking first-place in five events.

On the women's side, the 800-meter relay team defeated their Bowdoin opponents by nearly eight seconds. Rookie Olivia Alford had a memorable day, winning the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter run.

"There are a lot of freshmen, and they're all doing great," Jane Farrell '06 said. "Olivia had a good day. She has a lot talent. As a team we did as well or even better than we expected."

Farrell had a good day herself, defeating four Bowdoin opponents to win the pole vault with a height of 10-feet-5.25-inches, only three-quarters of an inch from the Brandeis women's record which she set last year with a vault of 16 inches.

The men had very few runners participate in the meet, and finished first in only one event. Ralph Chery '06 won the 400-meter run with a time of 52.60, defeating six other runners from every other team at the meet, including Bowdoin, University of Southern Maine and Colby College.

The men also took second in two events. Dan Suher '08 finished the one-mile run with a time of 4:34.14, only one second behind the first-place finisher and captain Aaron Skolnik '05 finished second in the 1,000-meter run which he finished in 2:36.17.

"We weren't really looking at collective points because we didn't have the numbers," Skolnik said. "We were looking at the performances we put together, so overall we were happy with our performance as a team."

Next up for the both the men's and women's track teams is their only home meet of the season: the second annual Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational next Saturday at Red Auerbach Arena.

The meet memorializes Reggie Poyau '04, a sprinter on the men's track team who passed away in Senegal in May 2003.