CUMBERLAND, Maine - The Brandeis women's cross country team, paced by junior Grayce Selig (Narberth, Pa./Springside School), finished sixth at the 2009 NCAA Division III New England regional, just missing a shot at an NCAA berth. Selig, as the seventh runner not on a team that qualified for nationals, becomes the first Brandeis woman to reach nationals since 2003.
Selig, competing at the regionals for the first time in her career, finished in 26th place overall, covering the 6K course with a time of 22:33.8. Her finish was the best by a Brandeis woman at regionals since Gretchen Chick '04 finished 22nd in 2003.
Joining Selig on the All-New England team was sophomore Alyssa Pisarik (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford). The team's second runner at the regionals for the second year in a row, Pisarik improved from 58th place in 2008 to 32nd in 2009, an improvement of 26 spots. Her time was 22:48.1. Next across the line for the Judges were junior Marie Lemay (Saco, Maine/Thornton Acad.) and senior Ally Connolly (Concord, N.H./Concord), who were right behind one another in 43rd and 46th places, respectively. They were separated by just over four seconds in 23:04.7 and 23:09.0, with Connolly finishing 42 spots ahead of her 2008 finish. Sophomore Kate Warwick (Boxborough, Mass./Acton-Boxborough) was the team's final scorer, placing 57th overall, two spots better than in her rookie campaign.
Overall as a team, with 204 points and a sixth-place finish, 32nd-ranked Brandeis improved by seven places from 2008. They finished behind fourth-ranked MIT and fifth-ranked Middlebury, who both finished with 63 points and earned automatic bids to the NCAA championships. No. 7 Williams was third with 99 points, No. 10 Amherst was fourth with 116 points, while No. 19 Wesleyan came in fifth with 159 points. Brandeis finished 20 points ahead of No. 28 Colby, who was seventh overall.