Bryson does it again! She wins the mile to claim second NCAA title of meet, third of her career

Emily Bryson '19 and coach Sinead Delahunty Evans stand atop the podium for the second straight day! (Photo by Tessa Holleran '21)
Emily Bryson '19 and coach Sinead Delahunty Evans stand atop the podium for the second straight day! (Photo by Tessa Holleran '21)

BOSTON, Mass. – Brandeis University senior Emily Bryson of Quincy, Massachusetts, completed a historic NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship this afternoon, winning the mile run for her second national championship of the meet and the third of her career. The meet was held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Bryson won the 3,000-meter run at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship, and last night anchored the distance medley relay. She carried the top seed in the mile into this year's meet, and ran the eighth-fastest time in yesterday's preliminaries.

As she has in her miles all season, Bryson was content to sit just off the lead, running among the top two or three of the race throughout the first six laps. She was just behind Anna Passanante of Willams College headed into the final 800 when she made her move, covering the final lap in 32.83 seconds, the only lap under 33 for the entire race. Bryson pulled away to finish with a time of 4:45.80, the fastest time in Division III Championship meet history when contested on a banked track. It's also the fifth-fastest mile in Division III history at any meet.

With the honor, Bryson joins elite company in Brandeis track and field history. She is only the second person to win two NCAA titles at one championship, joining Eleena Zhelezov '95, who won the long jump and triple jump in 1992. Bryson is also the first Judge to win a national title in three different events. Only Zhelezov (9), Victoria Petrillo '99 (4), and Geoff Gets '99 (3) have won as many career titles as Bryson. Bryson's eight career All-America honors tie her with Mariko Tansey Holbrook '03 for fourth on the Judges' all-time list, behind only Zhelezov (15), June Parks '93 (11) and Petrillo (9).

Thanks to the 20 points scored by Bryson and the DMR team, the Judges finished the 2019 NCAA Division III Championship in seventh place. That put them second among New England schools, behind only national champions Williams (42 points), and third among University Athletic Association schools behind runners-up Washington University (40 points) and sixth-place Chicago (21.7 points). This marks Brandeis best finish at an NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship since placing third in 1992. It also marks the second time in 2018-19 that Bryson has paced her team to a top-10 finish, having placed sixth at the Division III Cross Country Championships in the fall.