From Brandeis University Athletics

Brandeis University rookie Emily Bryson of Quincy, Mass., has been selected as the Division III National Runner of the Week by United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches of America (USTFCCCA). She was also selected as the University Athletic Association (UAA) Runner of the Week.

Bryson earned the weekly honors thanks to her dramatic win at the UAA Championships on Saturday. Running at Franklin Park in Boston, with Brandeis as the host school, Bryson passed leader Khia Kurtenbach from the University of Chicago in the final 200 meters to win the association title by a mere 32-hundredths of a second. The win was especially impressive in a UAA field that included six of the USTFCCCA's Top 35 teams in Division III, including the No. 21 Judges.

Bryson became the first Brandeis woman to win the UAA title since 2002. She is the fifth Judge individual to win the conference championship, bringing home the school's seventh crown. She is also the first woman to win both UAA Rookie of the Year as the individual champion since the UAA began presenting that award in 2000.

Bryson is the second Brandeis student-athlete to earn national Division 3 Athlete of the Week honors this year, joining sophomore Zach Diamond of the swimming and diving team.