In an event that was viewed as a tune-up for the men's and women's track teams concentrating on being in peak form for the UAA Championships on Mar. 3, the Judges took to the track at the Tufts University Invitational. With the host team finishing in first place in both the men's and women's competition, the Judges took 14th out of 16 on the men's side while the women finished sixth out of 19.The scores of the meet, as reported on Tufts University's athletics Web site, were incorrect, Brandeis Sports Information Director Adam Levin said. Levin added that the team's score totals do not reflect the individual scores reported in the website but that the rankings as reported on the Web site are correct.

Coach Marc Reytblat said the Judges view the scoring of the meet as insignificant, anyway.

"When you look at the score, pay no attention," he said. "It doesn't mean anything to us. Our goal is to make sure everyone is going to be healthy for the UAA."

On the men's side, coach John Evans' decisions to rest some runners, compounded with injuries and sickness, led to the 14th place finish. Notable absences included Ryan Parker '06, Matt Jennings '09, Joel Sunshine '07 and Dave Weinstein '08, who were all recovering from sickness or injury and given time to rest.

"We didn't run a full team, and that was by design," Evans said. "You can't go eight weeks running at your peak. This was a good time to sit some people down."

Despite the low finish and the dearth of competing runners, the men did witness some strong individual performances and personal bests. Ralph Chery '07, coming off an injury, finished in fifth place in the 400-meter with a time of 52.21 seconds. Dan Suher '08 finished sixth in the 800-meter with a time of 1:59.91. In the 600-meter race, Geff Fauchet '08 ran the 600-meter race in 1:25.11, coming in fifth.

Fauchet said he was disappointed with his outcome despite the high finish.

"I won the last two [600-meter races] I ran in," he said. "I expected to be running a lot faster. It is a [personal record] for an official meet, but at a school time trial run I ran a 1:21. But it's still early, and I have a lot more potential to improve my time."

Also finishing near the top was John Guillenger '08, 10th in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:02.75.

On the other side of the competition, the far more complete women's team was able to flex its muscles before the big meets ahead.

As has become her custom, Jane Farrell '06 again took first place in the pole vault with a new personal record of 3.59 meters. Not even a new, different pole her coach gave her could stop her.

"My coach brought a completely different pole than I've ever tried before, and somehow it worked really well for me. It's longer than usual, and it helped my form," she said.

The mark of 3.59 meters is just below 12 feet, which Farrell said is her goal to reach for next week's meet.

The women also exhibited their strength in the 800-meter race. Meaghan Casey '09 finished in fourth and set a personal record of 2:20.86, also qualifying as the season's best UAA time. Alyssa Ross' '07 2:25.74 put her in seventh, with Rebecca Happnie '09 and Talia Langman '08 coming in 18th and 25th, respectively.

"We kept most of the women 800-meter runners in the [race] to give them some good competition," coach Evans said. "Meaghan ran a season-best UAA time and she's going to be an awesome 800 runner over the next few years."

Other strong individual finishers included Kate Henry '09, who finished 11th in the 55-meter dash with a personal best time of 7.74 seconds and Sandra Canuta '08, who placed sixth in the 200-meter race and 13th in the 55-meter dash, with times of 27.69 and 7.78 seconds, respectively. Chen Yahav '07 also placed eighth in the 400-meter race with a time of 1:03.03.

The women's 4x200 relay team, comprised of Henry, Canuta, Linda Kropp '07 and Olivia Afford '08, placed second, with a time of 1:48.08.

For both teams, the Tufts Invitational served mostly as a road marker on the way to the UAA Championships on March 3.

"Each meet, people are getting better and faster," Evans said. "It's all a build up to the UAA and nationals. The way people keep stepping up shows that we're really on track.