For the third time this season, Paul Norton '11 had the fastest time among men's cross-country runners. But it was a balanced effort among the squad's top five finishers that propelled the Judges to a fourth-place finish at last Saturday's University Athletic Association Championships in Conyers, Ga."Our spread was really good," Norton said. "From our first runner to our fifth runner, it was only [about] 19 seconds [of separation], and from second to fifth was [about] seven seconds."

Norton was one of five Brandeis runners who finished in the top 25 as the Judges scored 102 points, beating No. 12 Case Western Reserve University by six points for fourth place out of eight teams. The women's team, on the other hand, finished in seventh place out of eight teams at Saturday's tournament with 185 points.

Norton, who said he was among the top 10 runners at one point during the race, suffered stomach pains for about a mile, which put him back around 30th place before he recovered to finish 15th out of 78 runners with a time of 26 minutes, 24.14 seconds.

"I think I could have been, like, top five or so if things had gone better," Norton said. "It was a little frustrating, but it wouldn't have made a difference in the team scoring, so I'm not that upset."

Marc Boutin '12, who placed 19th, finished just over five seconds behind Norton. Boutin was the first rookie to finish the race and earned the UAA Rookie of the Year honors. It was the second straight year that a Brandeis runner earned the award. Last season, Mekonen Gendebo '11 took the honor by finishing in ninth place in the race.

"That was really exciting, definitely the highlight of the day was having the Rookie of the Year," Norton said.

Kerwin Vega '11 placed two spots behind Boutin at 21st, and Chris Brown '12 and Zach Schwartz '11 rounded out the Judges' scoring with times of 26:41.77 and 26:42.99, respectively, good for 23rd and 24th place overall.

The underclassmen also finished highest for the women's team, but the Judges fared worse in the standings than the year before, for the second straight year. After a fifth-place finish in 2006, the women's team fell to sixth last season and seventh this season.

"I think everyone was a little disappointed about today, myself included," Beth Pisarik '10 said. "But . I'm just trying not to let it get in the way of our hopes for regionals in a couple weeks."

Alyssa Pisarik '12, Beth's sister, finished first for the Judges in 22nd place overall with a time of 22:55.14. Classmate Kate Warwick '12 came in second for Brandeis and 36th place overall.

"I like being one of the younger ones in the races, as opposed to in high school, when I was one of the older ones," Alyssa Pisarik said. "It's definitely good to be a freshman again, and I feel like there's a lot more competition and a lot more motivation and room to improve, so I really like the more competition that there is, because it pushes me to want to be better."

Beth Pisarik, Ally Connolly '10 and Hannah Lindholm '11 placed third through fifth for the Judges, good for 40th, 54th, and 56th place overall, respectively.

Both teams will travel to the New England Division III Championships at Williams College Nov. 15.