ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Both the Brandeis University men's and women's cross country teams finished in eighth place at the 2014 University Athletic Association championships held today at Forest Park in St. Louis, hosted by Washington University.
The Brandeis men finished with 193 points, 14 behind seventh-place Rochester. Host WashU edged Carnegie Mellon, 27-30, to win the title.
The Judges were led by senior Jarret Harrigan (Ipswich, Mass./St. Johns Prep), who had a lifetime best at the conference championships by finishing in 32nd place out of the 78 competitors. His time of 26:16.69 over eight kilometers was a personal best for the UAAs and his second-best time of the season.
The second finisher for the Judges was rookie Ryan Stender (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) who placed fifth among freshmen and 35th overall with a time of 26:20.53, his second-fastest time of the season. Sophomore Quinton Hoey (Watertown, Conn./Watertown) improved 10 places from his rookie campaign with a time of 26:33.99. It was 35 seconds faster than he ran in 2013 at UAAs.
Rounding out the team's scorers were rookie Mitchell Hutton (Villa Park, Calif./Villa Park) and junior Grady Ward (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex). Hutton took 47th overall, the 10th-best freshman, with a time of 26:36.09. Ward was 48th, 13 places ahead of his finish in 2013 with a time of 26:38.11.
Sophomore Matt Doran (Hopedale, Mass./Hopedale) and junior Liban Aden (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) were Brandeis's sixth and seventh runners, placing 58th and 63rd, respectively.
On the women's side, the Judges struggled with illness and finished with 226 points, well behind seventh-place Rochester. The highlight of the day was the performance of sophomore Lydia McCaleb (Evanston, Ill/Evanston Township). For the first time this season, McCaleb was the team's top runner, placing 25th out of 77 runners. She completed the 6K course in 23:07.38, 41 seconds better than her personal best set last week at Connecticut College.
Sophomore Maddie Dolins (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) was unable to follow up her 2013 Rookie of the Year performance, falling back to 54th place with a time of 24:09.59. Classmate Ashley Piccirillo-Horan (North Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial), the team's fifth finisher a year ago, improved to third on the Judges. She took 59th overall with a time of 24:20.02.
A pair of juniors rounded out the Brandeis scoring, with Kelsey Whitaker (Kingston, Mass./Notre Dame Acad.) finishing 65th and Molly Paris (Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth) placing 66th. The duo crossed neatly simultaneously in 24:35.23 and 24:25.47. Rookie Kyra Shreeve (Northborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional) and senior Kristi Pisarik (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) ran sixth and seventh for the team, placing 68th and 70th.
Both Brandeis teams are off until Nov. 15 when they run in the New England NCAA Division III Regional championships at Williams College.
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