WALTHAM, Mass. – At the 2019 University Athletic Association Indoor Track and Field Champiobships today, Brandeis University senior Emily Bryson (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) won two individual titles to increase her career total to 10 conference crowns, leading the Judges to fourth place in the standings for the second year in a row. The men used a deep roster to also finish in fourth place, their best placement at UAAs since 2006.
Bryson, who anchored the winning distance medley relay yesterday, kicked things off in the mile run, where she paced the Brandeis team to a sweep of the top three places in the event. The UAA record holder in the event from two years ago, Bryson won this year with a time of 5:02.74. Finishing in second place was her twin sister, Julia Bryson (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy), who ran 5:06.19 to earn her first career individual All-UAA honor in indoor track. Rounding out the top three for the Judges was rookie Jac Guerra (Guilford, Conn./Guilford), who outleaned Abigail Martin of Washington University by 0.01 second to post a time of 5:06.61.
Bryson earned her final UAA title of the weekend in the 3,000-meter run, successfully defending her title in the event with a time of 9:48.13, seven seconds faster than the runner-up from WashU.
The Judges had two other All-Association performances from the women. Senior Doyin Ogundiran (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) claimed top-three honors in the 800-meter run for the third year in a row, claiming second place with a time of 2:16.45, as she was edged out down the stretch by a third of a second by Chicago's Kaitlyn Van Baalen. Ogundiran was also part of the third-place 1,600-meter relay team, running the third leg behind sophomores Leinni Valdez (Providence, R.I./Hope) and Lisbeth Valdez (Providence, R.I.) and handing off to rookie Devin Hiltunen (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy). The squad finished with a time of 4:02.01. In the final event, by finishing two places ahead of Case Western Reserve, the relay helped Brandeis pull into fourth place by one point.
Other scorers for the Judges on the day were: Hiltunen, who placed fifth in the 200-meter dash in 26.35 and eighth in the 400 (1:00.6) despite battling illness; sophomore Niamh Kenney (Hanover, Mass./Hanover), who was eighth in the 3,000 in 10:15.10; and rookie Sonali Anderson (Fayetteville, Ga./Whitewater), who placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.34 seconds.
The Judges finished with 67 points, one ahead of Case Western Reserve to post their second-straight fourth-place performance.
On the men's side, the Judges had just one All-UAA performance, but showed enough depth to post their fourth-place finish. Senior Regan Charie (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet Regional) earned All-Association honors indoors for the second time in his career with a third-place finish in the 60-meter dash. Seeded third headed into the finals after running 7.14 seconds in the prelims, Charie ran 7.11 seconds in the final to place third. Charie missed a second All-UAA honor in the 200 meters with a time of 22.80 seconds, which was second in his heat but fifth overall.
Brandeis also got a point in the 60 from junior Lorenzo Maddox (Atlanta, Ga. / Maynard Jackson), who was edged out for seventh by 0.004 with a time of 7.208 seconds.
The Judges also had two finalists in the 60-meter hurdles, where rookie Dion Morris-Evans (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Northwest) placed fourth with a time of 8.71 seconds, just 0.04 out of the top three. Junior Jack Allan (Wrentham, Mass./King Phillip Regional) was fifth in 8.74 seconds.
Allan also scored for the Judges in the high jump, coming in sixth with a height of 1.88 meters (6 feet, 2 inches) and seventh in the long jump at 6.50 meters (21 feet, 4 inches). Junior Churchill Perry (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Westminster Academy) missed out on defending his triple jump crown, but posted a distance of 13.78 meters (42 feet, 2 ½ inches) on his final jump to move into fourth place.
After taking home All-UAA honors in the weight throw yesterday, senior Scott Grote (Greenfield, Mass./Greenfield) placed sixth in the shot put today with a distance of 12.72m (41 feet, 8 ¾ inches).
Brandeis also had two scorers in the pole vault, as sophomore Breylen Ammen (Lincoln, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) placed fourth with a height of 4.28 meters (14 feet, ½ inch), while high school teammate Aaron Corin (Sudbury, MA / Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) was fifth at 4.13 meters (13 feet, 6 ½ inches).
In the team standings, the men finished with 55 points, five ahead of NYU for fourth place. The Judges matched their point total from a year ago, but were two places higher for their best finish since 2006. This marked the first time since that year that both the men and women finished in the top four, and only the second time since 1999.
Brandeis will compete next weekend at the Tufts Last Chance meet in order to qualify or improve their times for the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 8-9 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.