KEENE, N.H. – The Brandeis University women's cross country team and men's senior Matthew Driben (Reading, Pa./Wyomissing) were each victorious today at the 2022 Keene State Cross Country Invitational. The men's team finished in third place.

HOW IT HAPPENED – WOMEN

• The Judges placed three of their runners in the top five and five of the top 16 to run away with the team crown, scoring 40 points to second-place Keene State's 116.
• The Judges were the only team with an average time under 19 minutes at 18:59.50.
• Senior Bridget Pickard (Westwood, Mass. / Westwood) led the Judges for the third time this season, placing second overall with a time of 18:31.6 over five kilometers. Pickard lowered her career-best time for 5K by seven seconds, finishing in second place by a 15-second margin over Gordon College's Rachel Brennan.
• Junior Juliette Intrieri (North Salem, N.Y. / North Salem) was the team's second runner for the first time this season, placing fourth overall in 18:37.36, just ahead of classmate Lizzy Reynolds (Winchester, Mass. / Winchester), who was fifth in 18:40.30, also a season-best placement.
• Intrieri set a p.r. by four seconds while Reynolds was a p.r. by 33 seconds.
• Sophomore Zada Forde (Leverett, Mass. / Amherst Regional) came in in 13^th place with a time of 19:26.08, while junior Katie Lyon (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands College Park ) rounded out the top five in 16^th place with a time of 19:42.14. Forde posted a p.r. by nine seconds, while Lyon broke 20 minutes for the first time to p.r. by 28 seconds.

HOW IT HAPPENED – MEN

• Driben won the meet by covering the five-mile course in 24:53.28. He defeated second-place Jake Pearl of host Keene State by 27 seconds.
• It was Driben's first time breaking 25 minutes over five miles, besting his previous career-fastest time by 11 seconds.
• Driben earned his second win of the season and third of his career. It was his sixth career top-five finish.
• Sophomore Lucas Dia (Montclair, N.J. / Montclair), who was the team's fifth and fourth finisher over the previous two meets, was second on the squad and 12^th overall today with a time of 26:19.75. Dia lowered his career-best time by nearly a full minute.
• Sophomore Dashiell Janicki (New York, N.Y. / H.S. for Math, Science and Eng. at City College) cracked the team's top five for the first time this season, coming in third on the squad and 21^st overall with a time of 26:40.39. He took more than two minutes off his time from this meet last year, when he finished 62^nd overall.
• Junior captain Samuel Kim (La Jolla, Calif. / Phillips Exeter (N.H.)) also cracked the top five for the first time this season, placing 24^th with a mark of 26:56.47, taking more than a minute off his time from 2021.
• Junior Henry Nguyen (Worcester, Mass. / Worcester Vocational Tech) rounded out the top five with a time of 27:27.07, good for 30^th place. He took 30 seconds of his previous best collegiate cross country time, set at the previous meet at UMass Dartmouth.
• Brandeis placed third overall with 88 points, 21 behind UMass Dartmouth and 35 ahead of Endicott.

UP NEXT

• The Judges return to action on October 15^th at the Connecticut College Invitational.