WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University track and field teams opened their 2019 outdoor seasons with most of the squad competing at the Tufts University Snowflake Classic, and two competitors at the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina.
At Tufts on Saturday, the Brandeis men finished in seventh place in the standings with 30.5 points, while the women were 13th with 25 points.
The top scorer on the day for the Judges came on the men's side, where senior Scott Grote (Greenfield, Mass./Greenfield) placed second in the discus throw with a heave of 44.14 meters (144-10) and finished sixth in the hammer with a throw of 42.99 meters (141-00).
Junior Aaron Corin (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) was a third-place finisher in the pole vault with a height of 14.10 meters (13-5 ¼). Sophomore Breylen Ammen (Lincoln, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) added an eighth-place finish in the javelin throw with a distance of 49.31 meters (161-09).
On the track, Brandeis's top men's performance came from senior Regan Charie (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet Regional), who placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.16 seconds after turning in the fifth-fastest time in the prelims at 11.24 seconds.
The Judges had a pair of sixth-place finishes on the track, from junior Daniel Curley (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) in the 5,000-meter run in 15:49.49 and sophomore Aaron Baublis (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) in the 110-meter hurdles in 16.67 seconds. In the 800, meters, rookie Aaron Portman (Wheeling, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) took seventh place with a time of 1:58.46.
The Brandeis women delivered the team's lone win of the weekend, as senior Doyin Ogundiran (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) blew away the field in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:15.94, nearly a second-and-a-half faster than her nearest competitor. The time is the 11th-fastest in Division III so far this season. Sophomore Lisbeth Valdez (Providence, R.I./Hope) just missed giving the Judges two scorers in the event, placing ninth in 2:21.64, just 0.12 seconds out of the top eight.
Sophomore Niamh Kenney (Hanover, Mass./Hanover) earned a top-three placement in the 5,000-meter run, taking fifth in 18:21.24, about 11 seconds off the winning pace. Rookie Devin Hiltunen (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) added a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a mark of 26.97 seconds, and was two-thirds of a second out of a second scoring performance in the 400, where she ran 1:01.06.
Rookie Anna Touitou (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) placed sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.27 seconds, while sophomore Andrea Bolduc (Auburn, Mass./Auburn) was seventh in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:56.52.
Also in the 1,500-meters, the Judges sent seniors Emily Bryson and Julia Bryson (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) to North Carolina State for the Raleigh Relays. Julia ran in the earlier heats of the event and posted a time of 4:45.49, which is 35th in Division III. Later in the evening, sister Emily, the indoor national champion in the mile run, turned in a p.r. and D3's fastest time in the event with a mark of 4:28.65. Emily's time is the fastest by 1.34 seconds this season.
The Judges return to action next weekend at the Amherst Invitational.