BOSTON, Mass. -- The Brandeis University track and field teams had a pair of All-New England performances at the 2010 Open New England championships at Boston University. The meet features the top performers from NCAA Division I, II and III from across the region.
On Friday night, junior, Paul Norton (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) had the team's best finish when he came in sixth in the 5,000-meter run. With his time of 14:49.56, Norton was fourth among Division III competitors, but he was unable to improve on his NCAA championship qualifying time and currently ranks 16th in the nation in the 5K. The three points Norton scored allowed the Judges to finish in 32nd among 34 scoring teams.
On the women's side today, senior Suzanne Bernier (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson) placed seventh in the high jump. Her height of 1.65 meters (5 feet, 5 inches) was tied for the fifth-highest and first among DIII jumpers, but earned seventh-place based on number of jumps. Bernier was unable to improve on her school-record and NCAA provisional mark of 1.67 meters, but still ranks 10th in the country. Bernier's two points scored put the Judges in a tie for 30th place out of 34 teams that scored points.
Additionally, though she did not score points, senior Beth Pisarik (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmford) improved her national standing in the mile-run. Pisarik finished in 12th place, third among Division III runners, with a time of 5:00.11. That was nearly five seconds faster than her previous lifetime best in the mile and will move her into the top 15 in the nation in Division III.