WALTHAM, Mass. - The Brandeis University track and field teams combined for seven All-Association honors and one league title on Day Two of the University Athletic Association championships in the Gosman Athletic Center. The Judges finished with 11 All-UAA performances and two titles as the women finished in fourth place for the second year in a row, while the men came in fifth, their best finish since 2006. The UAA titles were won by Washington (Mo.) University on the men's side and the University of Chicago on the women's.
The Judges' second title of the meet was won by junior Paul Norton (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional), who captured the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:37.28, less than a second ahead of Washington University's David Spandorfer. Rookie Alex Kramer (No. Andover, Mass./Andover) joined Norton on the podium in third place with a time of 8:39.33.
The Brandeis women also earned two All-Conference honors in a single race, the mile run. Junior Grayce Selig (Narberth, Pa./Springside School) and senior Beth Pisarik (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) each topped the old UAA record in the mile run, posting times of 4:56.12 and 4:59.11, respectively. Selig lowered the school record in the mile for the third time this season, while Pisarik joined her as the only two women in school history to run a sub-five-minute mile. The pair placed second and third and Washington sophomore Liz Phillips won the race in 4:55.32, just under an automatic qualifying time for the NCAAs.
Other All-Association performances for the Judge women came in the women's triple jump, where junior Lucia Capano (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Central) made the podium for the second time in the meet, placing third with a distance of 10.89 meters (35 feet, 8 ¾ inches) and in the 800-meter run, where junior Emily Owen (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) was third with a time of 2:17.60, edging WashU's Kelli Blake by just nine-hundredths of a second to spoil a Bear sweep. The Brandeis men also had an All-Association performer in the 800, as senior Aaron Udel (Dalton, Mass./Waconah Regional) edged out Chicago's Harry Backlund at the wire by half a second to finish in 1:56.13.
On the women's side, Chicago won the meet by dominating the
throwing events, sweeping the podium in both the 20-pound weight
and the shot put. Maroon senior Nicole Murphy established a UAA
record in the shot put today with a heave of 13.62 meters (44 feet,
8 ¼ inches), a day after teammate Claire Ray did the same in
the weight throw. Chicago also got a UAA title in the triple jump
from junior Dipti Karmarkar, while three different UC athletes
earned points in the pole vault and the long jump. In all, field
performances accounted for 90 of the Maroons' 146 points. On other
UAA record fell today as Emory's Brittany Donino won the 55-meter
hurdles in 8.31 seconds, edging a mark that had stood for 12 years
by one one-hundredth of a second.
The Washington University squad won the men's meet thanks to the
performance of junior Ben Harmon, who won the long jump (6.94
meters, 22-9 ¼) and the pole vault (4.55 meters, 14-11),
finished second in the high jump on judgment (1.96 meters, 6-5) and
ran on the second-place 1,600-meter relay team. Also earning
multiple UAA titles was Carnegie Mellon senior James Hulley, who
successfully defended his crowns in the shot put (16.07 meters,
52-8 ¾) and the 35-pound weight throw (16.35 meters, 53-7
¾).