From Brandeis University Athletics

The Brandeis men's cross country team could not escape the rainy weather that they saw at Keene State two weeks ago however, that did not stop the squad from putting down some solid performances.

Senior Ryan Stender (Amherst, Mass. / Amherst)led the men again today for the third time this season finishing eighth with a time of 25:31.7. Continuing the trend from the past two meets senior Mitchell Hutton (Villa Park, Calif. / Villa Park) was the second Judge to cross the line, capturing 17th in 25:57.0.  The final of the team's three senior captains came across as the third runner, Liam Garvey (West Springfield, Mass. / West Springfield) continued to trend in the right direction going into the post season with a time of 26:26.3 and a 35^th place showing. First year Luke Ostrander (Tacoma, Wash. / Bellarmine Prep) followed closely behind Garvey finishing within 1.5 seconds of him in 37^th place with a time of 26:27.4.

Fellow rookie fifth Mark Murdy (Plantsville, Conn. / Southington) was the team's fifth man today coming across the line in 26:47.4 for 55^th. Sophomore Brian Gao (Hopkinton, Mass. / Hopkinton) had quite the race coming across in 61^st  in 26:51.5 as Brandeis's sixth runner. His run was a 3 second personal record over the 8K distance in arguably much tougher conditions than his previous best. Closing out the team's varsity seven was senior Brian Sheppard (Wayne, N.J. / Newark Acad.) in 65^th with a time of 26:54.6.  These were the best team places for both the final two runners this season. In the overall team standings the Judges were fifth out of 20 competing squads with a score of 142 points.