NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Brandeis University cross country teams had their final tune-up before championship season this afternoon as the Judges took part in the Connecticut College Invitational. The women placed sixth out of 19 teams, while the men were eighth of 18 squads.
On the men's side, Brandeis earned 186 points, putting them three points ahead of Division II Southern Connecticut State and 19 behind Westfield State. Leading the way for the Judges was sophomore Quinton Hoey (Watertown, Conn./Watertown). Running close to home, Hoey was the Judges' top finisher for the first time this season with a time of 26:28 on the 8K course, good for 17th overall out of 212 runners. Despite running within a second of his time from 2013, Hoey improved by 15 places, just missing All-Invitational honors by three seconds.
Senior Jarret Harrigan (Ipswich, Mass./St. Johns Prep) was 15 seconds behind Hoey in 23rd place with a time of 26:43, a 12-place improvement despite a time about 13 second off his pace from a year ago. Classmates Mitchell Hutton (Villa Park, Calif./Villa Park) and Liam Garvey (West Springfield, Mass./West Springfield) were neck and neck finishing 44th and 45th, respectively, with times of 27:06 and 27:07. The race was Hutton's first since the season opener.
Rounding out the top five was junior Liban Aden (Brockton, Mass./Brockton), who came in 66th with a time of 27:33, giving the Judges a spread of 1:05 from first to fifth. The race was Aden's first of the season, and he improved significantly from 2013, jumping 88 places and cutting nearly a full minute of his time from this meet last year.
Brandeis is off for two weeks, when they travel to St. Louis for the University Athletic Association championships.