From Brandeis University Athletics

The Brandeis University cross country teams had a terrific performance at the 2016 University Athletic Association championships today hosted by Emory University. The Judge women matched their 2015 performance by placing fourth overall for the second year in a row.

The Judges scored 96 points to claim fourth place, behind only a trio of nationally-ranked squads. #4 Washington University defended their UAA title with 33 points, while #13 Chicago was second with 75. #19 Emory edged the Judges by six with 90 points, while Rochester wasn't far behind Brandeis in fifth with 106.

Individually, sophomore Emily Bryson (Quincy, Mass./No. Quincy) didn't defend her title, but earned her second-straight first-team All-Association honor by placing third overall. Bryson's 6K time of 21:55.81 was eight seconds faster than her time at UAAs a year ago in Boston, but Washington U. junior Aly Wayne ran away with the race in 21:25.29, while Chicago junior Khia Kurtenbach, who Bryson edged down the stretch in 2015, was eight seconds ahead of Bryson to finish second in 21:47.29.

Brandeis senior Maddie Dolins (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) continued her consistently successful career with a third All-UAA second-team performance. In the three UAA championship races in which she competed at full strength, Dolins finished 9^th (2013), 12^th (2015) and now 11^th. She covered the course in 22:22.42, about 14 seconds short of her first first-team All-UAA berth, despite not having raced at all this season to date. Dolins is Brandeis's first three-time All-UAA women's cross country runner since recent Hall of Fame inductee Mariko Tansey-Holbook '03.

Senior Kate Farrell (Windham, N.H./Windham) turned in her best-ever UAA performance to finish as the Judges' third runner, coming in 16^th overall with a time of 22:35.33. She just missed her first All-Association honor by about six seconds. Farrell, who had only run a handful of 6K races in her career, improved on her best UAA standing by 13 places, while also cutting 30 seconds of her best UAA time.

Sophomore Julia Bryson (Quincy, Mass./No. Quincy), Emily's twin sister, improved from the team's fifth scorer last year to fourth in 2016, as she placed 28^th with a time of 23:07.22. Julia was 32^nd overall as a rookie when she ran nearly the same time.

Junior Kyra Shreeve (Northborough, Mass./Algonnquin Regional) and sophomore Meaghan Barry (Marlborough, Mass./Worcester Acad.) were neck and neck for the final official scoring position, with Shreeve taking 44^th overall and Barry 45^th with times of 23:43.07 and 23:44.42, respectively. For Shreeve, it was an improvement of 19 places; for Barry, it was a 31 spot improvement.

Senior Ashley Piccirillo-Horan (North Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) was 54^th in 24:11.55; sophomore Christine Minor (Alameda, Calif./Alameda)was 63^rd in 24:24.89 and rookie Danielle Berteaux (Prides Crossing, Mass./Beverly) was 67^th in 24:40.20 to round out the Brandeis competitors.