NEW LONDON, Conn. – Headed into championship season, the Brandeis women's cross country team had a fine showing at the 2021 Connecticut College Invitational. In a field featuring nine nationally-ranked opponents, the Judges finished ahead of three teams ranked higher than them in the standings, taking seventh place overall.

The Judges placed their top three runners among the top 25 of the 196 runners and their top five scorers among the top 71. They had a spread of 1:43 among their scorers and 2:55 among their top seven. The top six teams in the team standings were ranked among the top 23 in Division III. The Judges finished just 11 points behind #13 Amherst in the team standings, while placing 52 points in front of #26 WPI and well ahead of #28 Wesleyan and #25 George Fox.

Leading the way for the third meet in a row was senior Erin Magill (South Duxbury, Vt./Harwood Union), who placed 10^th overall with a time of 22:14.30 over the six-kilometer course. It was the Judges' first 6K race of the season, and Magill broke 23 minutes for the first time in her career, having just missed the mark by two seconds in 2019 at Conn. College. Senior Niamh Kenney (Hanover, Mass./Hanover), returning to the squad after missing the previous two meets to illness, was the second finisher with a 17^th-place finish. Kenney ran 22:38.60, 11 seconds out of a top-15 placement.

Senior Natalie Hattan (Sugar Land, Texas/Fort Bend Clemente) ran a competitive 6K for just the second time in her career and was outstanding, finishing 1:40 faster than her previous outing at Conn. College in 2019. She placed 25^th overall, just six seconds out of the top 20. Sophomore Juliette Intrierri (North Salem, N.Y. / North Salem) was the team's fourth runner, placing 66^th overall with a time of 23:53.40 in her first collegiate 6K race, while junior Bridget Pickard (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) rounded out the scoring runners in 71^st pace with a time of 23:58.40, breaking 24 minutes for 6K for the first time in her career.

First-year Zada Forde (Leverett, Mass./Amherst Regional) was 99^th with a time of 24:33.40 and classmate Kyra Au (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck South) was 124^th in 25:10.20 to round out the Judges' top 7.

The Judges return to action in two weeks at the 2021 University Athletic Association Championships, which will be held at the University of Rochester. That race will feature six nationally-ranked opponents: #3 Washington University, #5 Chicago, #14 Emory, #17 Carnegie Mellon, #23 Case Western Reserve and #31 Rochester.