WALTHAM, Mass. – On Saturday, the Brandeis cross country teams wrapped up their 2012 seasons at the NCAA Division III New England regional championships at Westfield State University. The men came in 13th out of 50 teams, while the women were 16th out of 51 squads.
The top individual performance for the Judges came on the women's side, where junior Amelia Lundkvist (So. Portland, Maine/Cheverus) came in 41st out of 367 runners with a time of 22:36.91 over the six-kilometer course. Lundkvist finished 22 places higher than she did in 2011 at the regional meet by shaving 34 seconds off her time from the championship meet a year ago.
Classmate Ali Kirsch (Sharon, Mass./Sharon) was second on the squad, finishing 55th place with a time of 22:52.82, down 14 spots from her sophomore season.
A pair of rookies were next for the Judges in their regional debuts, as Maggie Hensel (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) was 115th in 23:59.77, while Kelsey Whitaker (Kingston, Mass./Notre Dame Acad.) was 137th in 24:24.92. Graduate student Erin Bisceglia (Durham, Conn./Coginchaug) was the team's fifth scorer in her final collegiate cross country race, placing 188th in 25:19.42.
Rookies Molly Paris (Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth, 215th, 25:50.94) and Rachel Keller (Albany, N.Y./Colonie, 242nd, 26:21.02) also competed for the Judges in their first regional meet.