After leaping 5 feet 3 1/4 inches in the women's high jump competition at the University Athletic Association Championships at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Bessie Bianco '08 tried to clear 5 feet 5 inches , which would have been a school record. She missed, but her last jump, equivalent to 1.61 meters, was good enough to give the men's and women's indoor track teams their only victory of the championship. "I was very excited, especially because it's my senior year, so I was really happy to perform so well," Bianco said. "I got closer than I ever had before to that [school record] height, so now beating the record or tying it is something that is tangible."

Bianco's victory, however, was one of the few bright spots for either team last Friday and Saturday. The women's team finished in fifth place out of seven teams with 37 total points, two behind fourth-place Case Western Reserve University, while the men's team finished in last place with 14 points, 11 behind sixth-place New York University.

"I don't think we performed to our potential, but I think in a lot of cases we were just edged out by different competition really," Mike Stone '08 said. "I think we might have had too many meets or competitions, but I'm not really sure if you can put [our performance] on any one thing."

The women's high jump turned out to be the Judges' best event, as Suzanne Bernier '10 complemented Bianco's first-place performance with a third-place finish, leaping 1.56 meters. Fellow jumper Ali Sax '09 returned for the first time since getting hit by a car on campus before February break, and took fourth place out of seven jumpers with a lead of 5.03 meters. Sax also competed in the triple jump, leaping 10.71 meters to get fifth place out of the seven jumpers in that competition in the finals.

"I was so proud of [Sax] and so happy that she came and did so well," Bianco said. "That was just so cool that she was dedicated to the team and she bounced back, and she hadn't even been working out for more than a month, so for her to come and place in an event was really an accomplishment."

Captain Olivia Alford '08 was all set to add to the Judges' point total after qualifying easily for the 200- and 400-meter finals, but she woke up sick last Saturday and did not compete in the final round.

"It was kind of a tough decision, because that means that I didn't get the starting points for my team, so it's kind of too bad," Alford said.

The men's team picked up 12 of its 14 points in relay events. The distance medley relay team of Stone, Ned Crowley '10, John Guilinger '08 and Dan Suher '08 finished second place in 10 minutes, 18.66 seconds, and the 4-by-400 relay team of Fjodor Melnikov '09, Aaron Udel '10, Geoffrey Fauchet '09 and Crowley came in fourth place in 3:31.09.

The distance medley relay stayed in second place for most of the race before Suher relinquished the lead and then regained it in the race's final stage. Emory University sophomore Charlie Meade and University of Chicago rookie Harry Backlund passed Suher toward the end of the race, but Suher was able to pass them back at the last moment.

"My goal was to hang on to [first-place Carnegie Mellon University junior Brian Harvey] as long as I could," Suher said. "If I can get him, great, [but] if I couldn't, I just made sure that nobody else got me."

The other two Judges' points came from Stone in the one-mile run, where he finished fifth in 4:24.04.

The Judges' rookies showed glimpses of the future. Ben Bray '11 just missed qualifying for the finals in the 800 meters, finishing just under one second away from winning his heat. Paul Norton '11 continued his solid rookie year, finishing eighth in the 5,000 meters in 15:16.27.

"I think a lot of [the rookies] made good showings," Stone said. "You're not going to make a huge impact your freshman year, but I think a lot of them are definitely ready to take the step next year or even in the spring.