The men's and women's cross country teams each had impressive seasons last fall, with the men's team finishing as the 16th-best team in all of Division III and the women's team placing two runners among the top 30 in New England. With the graduation of eight seniors from the men's team and four from the women's team, both squads will face an uphill battle to replicate last season's impressive performances.

The men's team graduated their first, fourth, fifth and seventh runners from nationals. Co-captain Paul Norton '11 placed 70th at nationals with a time of 25 minutes, 17.3 seconds on the 8-kilometer course at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. Kerwin Vega '11 finished 138th in the race, at 25:41.4. Devon Holgate '11 ran a 25:48.0, good for 152nd place, and co-captain Dan Anastos '11 finished in 197th, with a time of 26:08.0. All four graduated this spring, leaving a large gap for underclassmen to fill.

In addition to leading Brandeis to its best finish as a team at nationals since 1998, Norton was named to the Academic All-America Third Team by the College Sports Information Directors Association this past June. Norton graduated summa cum laude, majoring in economics and music. He also received All-America honors for finishing seventh in the 2009 NCAA cross-country championships.

This season the Judges will depend on seniors Chris Brown '12 and Marc Boutin '12 to fill Norton's shoes. The two placed 94th and 107th, respectively, at Nationals, with times of 25:25.3 and 25:29.2.

"Paul was a great runner, and no one man can ever fill, or exceed, his shoes," Boutin said. "I just hope to carry on the program of excellence he kick-started to the best of my ability with the help of all my teammates."

Ed Colvin '14 will look to build upon a solid rookie campaign, in which he finished 161st place at nationals, with a time of 25:50.8.

Despite returning only eight runners from last season, Boutin is optimistic about the team's chances.

"We have a small team, but it's a team full of potential that I am excited to work with, and I think we'll have a season that this university has come to expect from us," he said.

The women's cross country team faces similar challenges of size and experience, returning seven runners from last year's team of 11.

Most sorely missed will be co-captain Grayce Selig '11. Selig finished in 23rd place at the NCAA DIII New England regionals at Williams College, running the 6-kilometer course with a time of 23:08.2.

Selig was most noted for her accomplishments on the track. She placed second in the mile run at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track Championships last March with a time of 4:58.47, missing first place by 1.01 seconds. Selig also received Academic All-District honors and graduated with a 3.719 gradepoint average in neuroscience.

Kate Warwick '12, the only runner besides Selig to have received all-New England honors, figures to be the lead runner for the women's team. Warwick placed 27th at regionals, running the course in 23:14.0.

Amelia Lundkvist '14 ran regionals in 25:03.8, Erin Bisceglia '12 did so in 25:13.2 and Victoria Sanford '14 finished in 25:20.9. All three will play a key role in the team's current itineration.

Both the men's and women's teams kick off the season at the University of Southern Maine on Friday.