On a year's worth of tired legs, the men's and women's track teams limped to the season's finish line at the ECAC Championships at Springfield College on Friday. The Judges sent six runners to the competition, none of whom finished higher than 11th place. Williams College finished as the top men's team at the championships, while the College at Oneonta was the top-scoring women's team.The Judges do not have anyone eligible for the NCAA Championships on May 5 after being represented in the fall and winter NCAAs.

"This is late in the season, and people were tired," Danny Glass '07 said.

Meaghan Casey '09 agreed.

"When you get to your peak, you usually start tapering off towards the end of the season, and you don't work out as hard," she said.

The Judges' troubles started in the morning with the men's 1,500 meter run. Joel Sunshine '07 was the best Brandeis finisher, coming in 15th place out of 27 runners with a time of 4:07.62. Dan Suher '08 followed in 21st place at 4:10.06, while Matt Jennings '09 was right behind at 4:10.12.

"I went out pretty slow," Jennings said. "It was kind of rainy, and we just didn't run that well."

Sunshine finished the race with a fury, but a slow start held him back from a better result.

"I passed a whole bunch of people over the last 100 meters, but I didn't run that well early on," he said.

After opening the outdoor track season with a surprising victory in the 1,500-meter run at Tufts, Sunshine's performance slowed down toward the end of the year with wear and tear.

After a below-average performance, Sunshine said that he was looking to improve his personal results starting next season.

"It was my last race of the season, and I was tired," he said. "I was very happy with the overall team success, but personally, I didn't run as well as I had hoped. Still, I am looking forward to a great cross-country season in the fall."

In the men's 5,000 meter run in the afternoon, Glass came in 20th out of 25 runners with a time of 15:53.82. He was forced to battle allergies and coughed for the entire race.

"I ran the slowest I've run in two years," Glass said. "Feeling sick just got into my head."

The women's team suffered with the same stamina issues and poor finishes as the men at Springfield. Captain Megan Bisceglia '07 finished 11th out of 19 runners with a time of 4:57.24 in the 1,500-meter run, while Casey came in 11th, last place, in the 800-meter run.

A conservative running strategy Casey used early in her race ended up backfiring in the end.

"In the beginning, I tried to stay behind the girls in my race so I wouldn't burn out too fast," Casey said. "In the first lap, that was a strategy to try to just get through it, but by the second lap, I had lost it already, and I didn't have the kick I normally have."

Casey also cited a sporadic training schedule before the meet as one of the team's problems.

"We haven't had a steady training period the last couple of weeks due to finals," she said.

Despite the Judges' struggles at the end of the season, they are optimistic about next year.

"We had some great individual performances this year," Glass said. "Looking ahead towards next year, I think we could be really good, but it's just hard to put it all together."

"I think the team has potential to do a lot better," Casey said. "The training that the distance coaches are giving us is preparing us for the long term.