Behind Paul Norton's '11 third- place finish, the men's cross country team placed fourth in the Division III New England Regionals last weekend and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships next weekend. Grayce Selig '11 paced the women's team to a sixth-place finish at the meet in Cumberland, Maine, and qualified as an individual for the NCAA Championships, but the women's squad fell just short of qualifying as a team. Norton paced the men's team as he has all season long. Norton's time of 25 minutes, 17.5 seconds left him only 1.3 seconds behind the race winner, senior Edgar Kosgey of Williams College. He improved six spots on his ninth-place finish from a year ago. Coach John Evans raved about his team leader's performance.

"[Norton] is running with some of the best people in the country and taking it to a new level. He's a great leader and is setting an example for everybody." Evans said.

In total, three Brandeis runners earned All-New England status. In addition to Norton, Chris Brown '12 and classmate Marc Boutin '12 both finished within the top 35 to win regional honors. Brown finished in 18th place with a time of 25:52.9. Boutin finished the 8-kilometer race with a time of 26:17.2, good for 32nd place.

Devon Holgate '11 continued an impressive season with a 42nd-place finish in his first-ever regional meet after missing it the last two years with injuries and illness. His time of 26:27.1 bested the fifth Brandeis runner by just less than 7 seconds.

Ben Bray's '11 time of 26:33.0 was good for 50th place, and gave Brandeis five runners in the top 50 overall.

"[Holgate] is having a great season for us" coach Evans said. "Him and Bray were really the keys for us qualifying for nationals," he added.

The finish, which equaled the men's team's fourth-place finish at the meet last season, was good enough to qualify the men for their second straight NCAA Championships.

On the women's side, Selig was the highest finisher for Brandeis at 26th place, running the course in 22:33.8. The finish was the highest for a Brandeis woman since 2003 when Gretchen Chick '04 finished 22nd.

"[It was] just an unbelievable race by [Selig]," Evans said.

Alyssa Pisarik '12 joined Selig on the All-New England team with a time of 22:48.1. Her 32nd-place finish was a 26-spot improvement over her 58th-place 2008 finish.

Marie Lemay '11 was next over the line for the women, finishing in 43rd place with a time of 23:04.0. Ally Connolly '10 was less than 5 seconds behind her. Connolly, who ran in her final cross country meet as a collegiate athlete, improved an impressive 42 spots over her 2008 finish. Kate Warwick '11 rounded out the Brandeis scoring, placing 57th overall with a time of 23:21.4.

Though the women are disappointed about not earning an NCAA berth, Evans was pleased with the team's effort. The Judges finished seven spots higher than their 13th place finish last year at New England and took 18th place in 2007.

"The women have had an unbelievable season and have really shown improvement," Evans said.

Both squads fared especially well given the strong regional competition. The men's team finished behind No. 10 Williams College, No. 22 Amherst College and No. 23 Keene State College while finishing ahead of two ranked teams: No. 19 University of Southern Maine and No. 29 Tufts University. The two finished in ninth and eighth place, respectively.

The women's finished behind five teams ranked in the top 20 in the country and outran No. 28 Colby-Sawyer College, which finished in seventh place.

"We were just really unlucky," Evans said. "In any other region we would have qualified, but the competition in the Northeast is really strong this year."

The women's team graduates three senior runners. Connolly, who ran one of her strongest races two weeks ago at the University Athletic Association championships to earn All-UAA honors, earned rave reviews from her coach.

"She's having her best season ever," Evans said.

Joining Connolly is co-captain Beth Pisarik '10 and Jess Girard '10. Though neither competed at regionals, both had great cross country careers and will now turn their focus to running indoor track for the Judges.

"[Beth Pisarik and Girard] have been a big part of the team over their careers. The two of them and [Connolly] really helped build our team this year. We keep improving every season, and a big part of that is our seniors," Evans said.

The NCAA Championship meet will take place Saturday at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio.