Dave Weinstein '08 said that there is something he hates even more than running in cold weather:"[The coldness] affected me a lot," Weinstein said. "I hate running in that weather, [but] I hate to lose. I expect myself to win"

At the Tufts Hillside Relays last weekend, where the weather dipped into the low 30s with strong winds, Weinstein led the team with a time of 22.68 seconds in the 200-meter sprint. Although the meet did not count in the standings, the team saw it as a tune-up for the University Athletic Association Championships in two weeks, and gave several strong showings.

Weinstein said he was satisfied with his time, which currently ranks as the fastest in the UAA this season according to coach Mark Reytblat.

"My time was decent, but considering the conditions I was happy," Weinstein said.

Other strong performances included Joel Sunshine '07, who placed fourth in the 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:00.16.

If not for some tactical mistakes, Sunshine said that he could have won the race and broken his personal best, which he missed by just four-one-hundreths of a second.

"We went out fairly strong in the first half, but in the second half when I was hoping to pick it up, I didn't," Sunshine said. "I didn't really get around people when I could have."

But Sunshine said he is confident about breaking his personal best and running 1,500 meters in less than four minutes, which is more than attainable, said captain Ryan Parker '06.

"Joel is in really good shape this season. He's going to run extremely fast," Parker said.

Also faring well was Mark Bercy '07, who placed 2nd in the triple jump with a distance of 12.96 meters.

Ryan Parker, last year's national second-place finisher in the 800-meter race, found some room for improvement before the UAA meet. Parker placed 11th in the 800-meter race with a time of 1:59.99. He attributed his lackluster performance to the cold weather and an unusually tough week of training.

"First of all, it was cold, and I had a really hard week of training," Parker said. "Basically I was just pretty tired. I was toward the front for the majority of the race and in the end I got passed by a bunch of people."

The women's side of the competition also featured some strong performances in spite of the weather. Four Brandeis runners placed second in their events to runners from Division I Harvard University.

Pole-vaulter Jane Farrell '06 finished in second place for the second week in a row with a height of 3.33 meters.

Farrell reached the same height as first-place finisher Katheri Nishimura of Harvard, but a miss on a previous jump knocked her back to second.

In her first competition since placing second at the Division III indoor championship, Anat Ben Nun '09 earned a tie for second place to with a height of 10.83 meters in the high jump. Olivia Alford '08, who ran a time of 26.90 seconds in the 200-meter race, placed second in that event.

Also running well was Adie Sprague '08, who placed 6th in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 17.26 seconds and 8th in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:09.73.

Sprague said that the meet was one of the best of her college career and that she was more than happy with the result.

"I was ecstatic about the meet. It was definitely one of my best meets in college so far," she said.

Reytblat said that overall he was pleased with the performances of both teams and emphasized the importance of focusing on the UAA championship in two weeks.

"We need to be ready for the UAAs," he said. "Unfortunately the weather was not good [today] so you can't really run your best times. [Hopefully] in a few weeks the weather will be warmer and our performance will be much better.