CLEVELAND, Ohio - Brandeis University junior Paul Norton (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) became the first Judge to earn men's cross country All-America honors since 1999 today with a seventh-place finish out of 276 runners at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland. Norton helped the Judges to a 24th-place finish out of 32 teams.
Norton, who finished the eight-kilometer course in 25:37.8 seconds, was the second finisher among New England runners and the top University Athletic Association performer at nationals with his seventh-place finish. He came in well behind winner Ricky Flynn of Lynchburg College, but was less than six seconds behind the runner-up, Michael Spain of team champion North Central College. Norton's is the 28th All-America performance in Brandeis men's cross country history - second most in New England Division III history behind Williams College and sixth-most among all NCAA schools - and the first since Samson Yohannes '00 also finished in seventh place in 1999.
Sophomore Marc Boutin (Westford, Mass./Westford Acad.) was the Judges' second runner at nationals for the second year in a row, placing 117th overall, an improvement of 12 places from his rookie campaign. Boutin completed the course in 26:50.4. Classmate Chris Brown (No. Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) was the team's third runner once again at nationals, crossing the tape in 26:57.9, good for 136th place and a 19-spot improvement.
Junior Devon Holgate (Cumberland, R.I./Cumberland), in his first season of cross country, was the squad's fourth runner, finishing 191st in 27:28.4, while junior Kerwin Vega (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) was the final scorer in 241st place with a time of 27:58.8. Juniors Dan Anastos (Peabody, Mass./Peabody Memorial) and Ben Bray (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) finished with a times of 28:34 and 29:20.7, respectively, as the team's sixth and seventh runners.
On the women's side, junior Grayce Selig (Narberth, Pa./Springside School), running as an individual, came in 172nd place with a time of 24:13.6.
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