Throughout the women's indoor track season, the team had high finishes in jumping events, and at its biggest meet of the season at the University Athletic Association Championships last Saturday, jumpers Ali Sax '09, Anat Ben Nun '09, and Suzanne Bernier '10 continued that trend. The trio combined to tally 31 out of the team's 68 points, finishing in the top three in the long jump, triple jump, high jump and 55-meter hurdles in leading the women's team to a fourth place finish out of seven conference teams. Washington University in St. Louis won the meet on the women's side with 138 points. The men's team also competed and finished seventh out of seven teams with 17 points. Emory University won the meet with 106 points.

Ben Nun and Sax both qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships in the triple jump with their performances.

Bernier's previous UAA Championships ended with her coming short of victory in the high jump, but she bucked that trend this year, finishing first with a jump of 1.62 meters.

"[Bernier] was great," coach Mark Reytblat said. "She had been finishing second and third and this was the first time she won the high jump [at the UAAs]."

Ben Nun and Sax also had top finishes, taking first and third place, respectively. Ben Nun jumped 11.72 meters, beating second-place finisher, rookie Lauren Attiah of Emory, by .14 meters. It was Ben Nun's third UAA triple jump championship in four years.

"[Being a UAA champion] feels wonderful," Ben Nun said. "Finishing my four years with a win was the best thing I could hope for."

Sax displayed her versatility, as she took seventh in the long jump, third in the triple jump and fourth in the 55-meter hurdles, earning 10 points alone for the Judges.

"I've been working hard with things like endurance because it is difficult to go from one event to another," she said. "It's just being able to withhold the [same] level of performance over two days of competing."

In addition to the jumpers, Brandeis had top-four finishes in the long distance events.

The women's distance medley quartet of Marie Lemay '11, Michelle Gellman '11, Beth Pisarik '10 and Erin Bisceglia '12 finished eight seconds ahead of second-place New York University to win the race in 12 minutes, 21.40 seconds.

Individually, Pisarik took second in the one-mile run with a time of 5:16.00, earning the Judges' eight points, while Lemay was fourth in the same event. Katie Warwick '12 finished her rookie indoor season with a sixth place finish in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs.

Gellman and Julia Alpaio '10 rounded out the Judges scorers. Gellman finished second in the 400-meter sprint, running it in 59.65 seconds to earn eight points. Alpaio placed fourth in the 800-meter run, less than 3 seconds behind the first-place finish of Emory senior Rebecca Willett.

"I'm really proud of all of us," Sax said of the women's team. "I think this is the strongest team we have ever had [in my four years,]."

The men's team, as they have all season long, faced a disadvantage in sprint and field events because of the lack of runners it had to compete in such events. The squad's distance runners scored all of the Judges points.

Paul Norton '11 took second-place in the 5,000-meter run, concluding a season that saw him get several high finishes after a minor Achilles injury sidelined him earlier this season. Norton finished in 14:50.75, earning the Judges eight points.

The men's distance medley also took second place, finishing only behind Carnegie Mellon University with a time of 10:10.19. The foursome of Matt Jennings '09, Mingkai Lin '12, Marc Boutin '12 and Devon Holgate '11 also earned eight points for the team.

Holgate rounded out the scoring for the men's team, earning one point for his sixth-place finish in the one-mile run in 4:17.90.

"[Our performance] was alright," Holgate said. "We did the best we could have hoped for, [considering] we don't really have jumpers or anything to help us out."

Reytblat also commented on the team's lack of field athletes.

"The guys, it's very hard competition right now," he said. "Hopefully I'm having a good recruiting year and we will have a much better year on the men's side."

The UAA Championships conclude the team-season for both the men's and women's indoor track squads. On the women's side, the year was highlighted by the performance of the team's jumpers and distance runners, who most noticeably carried the team Jan. 24 at the Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational. The women's team took second of 10 teams at the meet, lead by a sweep of the top three spots in the one-mile run and an NCAA qualifying leap by Ben Nun in the triple jump.

The men's team did not record many high team finishes but did feature rookies Myles Tryer-Vassell '12 and Marc Boutin '12 emerging in sprints and distance, respectively.

Though team play is over, Ben Nun and Sax will travel to Terre Haute, Ind. on Friday for the NCAA Championships.

"I think both [Sax] and I are in shape by now, and Nationals are only a few days away, so we'll just work on a few little things. Mostly just stretch, stretch and prepare psychologically," Ben Nun said. "It's going to be really rough, the competition is way harder than it has been over the past four years, right now I believe I'm like eighth or ninth so that doesn't give me a very good chance, but it's going to be about character and I think I have the character; when I need to I do my best. It's going to be rough, but I hope I do very well.