For the second time in three meets, the indoor track teams took a break from team competition to face some of the strongest individual runners in the country at Boston University this weekend. After several of their runners posted personal best times at BU's Terrier Classic Jan. 26, the Judges turned in more solid individual performances Friday and Saturday at the BU Valentine Classic. While the men's team was paced by a sixth-place finish out of 20 schools in the 4,000-meter medley relay, qualifying provisionally for the NCAA Division III Championships (Nationals) in that event, Anat Benun '09 led the women by qualifying for Nationals in the triple jump.

Meets at BU traditionally draw athletes from top-level Division I, II and III schools. Sponsored professional runners also take part in these events.

"There's great competition here and great teams to run against," Matt Jennings '09 said. "It provides us added motivation to do well."

The squad of Jennings, Ralph Chery '07, Keith Thibault '10 and John Guilinger '08 finished with a time of 10 minutes, 4.11 seconds in the 4,000-meter medley relay. That time was the fourth-best by a Division III school in the event this season and put Brandeis in a good position to qualify for Nationals.

"It's definitely a good achievement to qualify provisionally, but we haven't made it to Nationals yet, so it's not exactly where we want to be," Jennings said.

Jennings led off with a time of 3:05 in the 1,200-meter portion of the relay. As Jennings handed the baton to Chery, Chery collided with another runner but rebounded to finish with a solid performance in the 400-meter portion. Thibault and Guilinger followed with solid times in the 800-meter and 1,600-meter portions, respectively.

"We couldn't be happier [about] they way we came together as a team," Jennings said.

As the distance medley was held Saturday, a day after the rest of the men's events took place, the quartet had to overcome soreness and fatigue.

"We can all go significantly faster," Jennings said.

Mark Bercy '07 finished 55th out of 140 runners with a time of 22.83 seconds in the 200-meter dash Friday. Guilinger, Jennings and Joel Sunshine '07 all ran the one-mile event in under 4:30.

In addition, Brian McDonald '10 added to an impressive rookie campaign with a 15:15.83 finish in the 5,000-meter run, good for 40th place.

Benun made Nationals for the second consecutive year Saturday with a fourth-place finish in the triple jump with an 11.44-meter leap, well over the minimum distance of 11.18 meters needed to qualify. After being sidelined with a hamstring injury until last week's Tufts University Invitational, Benun made the most of her second meet of the season.

"[Benun] has really good technique," Ali Sax '09 said. "She pushes me to perform well and supports me."

Sax nearly qualified for Nationals herself, finishing with a distance of 11.15 meters, just three short of the qualifying distance.

"If I can hold my jumps longer, I'll go further," Sax said.

Camille Stevens-Rumann '07 and Megan Bisceglia '07 both secured personal-bests in the one-mile run, finishing with times of 5:09.10 and 5:09.65, respectively, just 55 milliseconds apart. Stevens-Rumann and Bisceglia hold the top two fastest times for University Athletic Association runners this season.

"It was exciting for [me and Bisceglia] to run essentially the same time since we work out together and train together," Stevens-Rumann said.

Mary Schillinger '08 also ran a personal-best time in the 3,000-meter competition, finishing in 10:41.46. Meaghan Casey '09, back from battling pneumonia, ran the 800-meter heat in 2:20.33, good for 37th out of 125 runners.

"We're getting better as the season progresses," coach Mark Reytblat said. "We want to be in our best shape for the UAA championships [which will be hosted by Brandeis in March]."

The Judges compete at the Division III New England Tournament in Gorham, Maine next weekend.