Sophomore Kelsey Whitaker (Kingston, Mass./Notre Dame Acad.) broke a two-decade-old school record in the 1000 on Friday, part of a strong weekend for the men's and women's track and field teams at the Valentine's Classic at Boston University.
The meet featured a massive field of Division I, II, III and unattached runners, as well as several Canadian universities. Many of the events had more than 100 competitors.
The star of the meet for the Judges was Whitaker, who blew past the mark of 2:58.21 set by June Parks '92. The sophomore crossed the line in 2:55.73, good for eighth place out of 84 competitors, 16 spots ahead of the next Division III runner. She shaved nearly four seconds off of her previous career best in the event.
"Kelsey's been running great these past few weeks," assistant coach Marlee Berg said. "It's been exciting watching her compete."
In her first ever time running the 5000-meter, Maddie Dollins' (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) recorded one of the top 50 times in Division III this season. The rookie finished in 18:06.18, good for 47th in the meet.
Junior Kristi Pisarik (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) and sophomore Molly Paris (Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth) were Brandeis' final competitors on the women's side. Both competed in the mile, with Pisarik running a career-best 5:25.21. Paris finished in 5:43.25.
On the men's side, senior Vincent Asante (Bronx, N.Y./High School for Arts Imagination and Inquiry) was the top Division III runner in the 60-meter dash. He finished 23rd out of 117 runners overall with a time of 7.11 seconds.
Two Brandeis runners set personal bests in the mile. Rookie Quinton Hoey (Watertown, Conn./Watertown) finished in 4:25.10, the fastest time by any Brandeis runner this year. Fellow rookie Matt Doran's (Hopedale, Mass./Hopedale) time of 4:27.08 was also a PR. Sophomore Grady Ward (Essex Junction, Vt./ Essex) finished in 4:25.63.
Sophomore Adam Berger (Concord, N.H./Concord) placed 23rd in the triple jump with a distance of 12.29 meters.
Sophomore Eddie Tai (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) tied his personal best in the 60 and broke it in the 200, finishing the two events in 7.78 and 24.93 seconds, respectively. Rookie Ben Pomerantz (Barrington, R.I./Barrington) set personal records in both events as well, and Berger's time of 24.61 seconds in the 200 was also a new career low.
Rookies Nick Wactor (Oakland, Calif./Head Royce) and Jeremy Wilson (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) and sophomore Makalani Mack (Forest Park, Ga./Carver School of the Arts) all set PRs in the 200.
The Judges will compete in the Cupid Challenge at Tufts University this weekend.