In his rookie season last year, Paul Norton '11 took 81st place overall at the New England Division III championships. A year later, at the same event last Saturday, he jumped all the way up to ninth place, an improvement that led the men's club to the NCAA Championships for the first time in a decade. Competing against a total of 330 runners, Norton finished first among Brandeis runners in the 8-kilometer race with a time of 26 minutes, 26.1 seconds, leading the men's cross-country team to a fourth-place finish out of 49 teams and to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1998.

"It's the beginning of a new and exciting time for our program." Norton said, "We have a big group of our key guys coming back next year, and there's been a lot of growth and improvement, and we still [have] room for more."

The women's team ended its season last Saturday with a 13th-place finish out of 39 teams at the New England Championships.

Four men's teams from the New England Region made the National Championships. Williams College and Amherst College each automatically reached the NCAA Championships by finishing first and second, respectively, at the New England Division III championships.

A team must place within the top five of its regional championships to be eligible for the NCAA Championships. Trinity College received a bid by finishing third in Saturday's meet, and the Judges took the last New England spot. Bowdoin College finished fifth in the New England Division III Championships, but Brandeis coach John Evans said Bowdoin did not have enough quality victories to get into the tournament.

"I figured if we finished in the top five, we'd be selected because the New England region is so strong," Evans said. "We've beat some nationally ranked teams [this season], so to be fourth, we were comfortable."

The Judges' finish placed them ahead of top teams like No. 13 Keene State College and No. 23 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which finished 7th and 8th respectively.

Chris Brown '12 and University Athletic Association rookie of the year Marc Boutin '12 joined Norton as members of the first-team All-New England last Saturday.

Brown and Boutin finished 22nd and 23rd, respectively, with times of 26:54.3 and 26:57.0, placing each of them in the top five for rookies.

"The freshmen did great," Norton said. "You're racing almost double the distance in college over high school. It takes a lot more discipline to maintain the lifestyle that makes you perform well. To adjust the way they have is remarkable."

Though the men's team made the NCAA Championships, the women's team also improved, finishing five places higher than last year. Marie Lemay '11 led the squad with a 41st-place overall finish. She finished with a time of 24:08.8. Alyssa Pisarik '12, who had Brandeis' top time at the Nov. 1 UAA championships, finished 58th with a time of 24:38.3.

"The women showed me a lot this year," Evans said. "They were just a bit too young this year. We relied on three freshmen and two sophomores who were very inexperienced. The team started the season off strong but not strong enough to carry it through the rest of the season."

Looking ahead, Norton said the men's team hopes to gain something from the NCAA Championships that can be used in future seasons.

"We want to perform at our best, but we're such a young team that we just want experience and to be able to come back next year," he said.

Evans said the men's club would not prepare any differently than they have for their previous meets.

"[There's] no real different approach this week," he said. "We're resting up. We just want to go out there and enjoy it and get the experience, and we're going to do that this year. We're going to try to finish as high as possible, but we have young guys, so that's what they need is experience, and it'll be great for them."

The NCAA Championships will take place at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind. Saturday.