Kenney, Bertaux earn All-New England honors for women's cross country

Niamh Kenney '21, left, and Danielle Bertaux '20, right (photo by Tessa Holleran '21)
Niamh Kenney '21, left, and Danielle Bertaux '20, right (photo by Tessa Holleran '21)

BRUNSWICK, Maine – Two Brandeis University women's cross country team members earned All-Region honors today at the New England Division III championships held at Bowdoin College.

Leading the way for the Judges was junior Niamh Kenney (Hanover, Mass./Hanover), who earned All-New England honors for the second year in a row. After coming in third for the team and 21st overall as a sophomore, she was the team's top runner this year, coming in 31st with a time of 22:26.17 over the six-kilometer course. Kenney ran three seconds faster than she did a year ago at the New England Championships. Kenney was just a second off her career-best time, run last year at nationals.

Joining Kenney on the All-New England team was senior Danielle Bertaux (Prides Crossing, Mass./Beverly). The team's sixth finisher in 2018, Bertaux improved by 45 places from a year ago to take 33rd overall. Bertaux finished just behind Kenney with a time of 22:28.48. It was the second-fastest time of her career, also run at the NCAA championships last year.

Sophomore Erin Magill (South Duxbury, Vt. / Harwood Union) made her first run at regionals and was the team's third runner for the second-straight meet. Magill finished in 81st place with a time of 23:09.50, almost an exact tie of her time at UAAs two weeks ago for the second-fastest in her career.

Junior Andrea Bolduc (Auburn, Mass./Auburn) also made her regional debut, and came in fourth on the team for the second-straight week. Her time of 23:45.61 was good for 116th place. Rookie Bridget Pickard (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) rounded out Brandeis's top five with a time of 24:34.06, good for 174th place. The time was four seconds faster than her previous collegiate best time.

Sophomore Hannah Walsh (Fairfield, Maine / Lawrence) was sixth on the team, placing 183rd overall in 24:47.35, while junior Leinni Valdez (Providence, R.I./Hope) was seventh in 24:58.64, placing 199th.

As a team, the Judges finished in 15th place with 430 points. They were 20 ahead of Smith and 56 behind Trinity College.

Brandeis will return all but one of their top seven runners next year, and expect at least one top performer, sophomore Jac Guerra (Guilford, Conn./Guilford) back from injury.