WALTHAM, Mass. – For the seventh time in program history, the Brandeis University women's cross country team has earned a berth at the NCAA Division III Championships. The Judges will compete at the national championships on November 22
nd at Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Brandeis earned an at-large berth at the championships thanks to a third-place finish at the NCAA East Regional Championships this past weekend. Ranked fourth in the East headed into regionals, the Judges finished third, ahead of third-ranked Bowdoin, who were also ranked 27
th in Division III. Brandeis had been ranked 26
th earlier in the season.
The Judges placed their five scoring runners among the top 32 at the regionals with a spread of less than a minute. The Judges were paced by graduate student
Shae Regan (Littleton, Mass./Littleton). Regan finished in seventh place overall, covering the six-kilometer course in a personal best 21:41.3.
Graduate student
Kayla DiBenedetto (Andover, Mass./Andover), who rejoined the team later in the season, continued her terrific comeback, finishing as the Judges' second runner in 22nd place. She shaved three seconds of her previous career best. First-year
Mikaela Beeler (Livermore, Calif./Livermore), senior
Katriona Briggs (Menlo Park, Calif./Menlo-Atherton) and junior
Sadie Harrow (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) rounded out the top five in 28
th, 31
st and 33
rd places, respectively. Harrow and Briggs were key in Brandeis moving from sixth to fourth to third in the team standings during the
race, as they both improved by seven places from their first split to their third.
All five runners were named All-East Region as top-35 performers, while Regan was also named All-New England for finishing in the top 20.
Brandeis will be making its first trip to the NCAA Division III Championships under third-year head coach
Michael Schmidt. In their last trip to nationals in 2021, the Judges finished in 20
th place. Their all-time best finishes were a pair of sixth-place finishes in 1991 and again in 2018. The Judges have produced 21 All-America performances, most recently
Niamh Kenny '22 and
Erin Magill '22 in 2021.
Mariko (Tansey Holbrook) Neveu '03 finished as the national runner-up in 2002.
Converse University and OneSpartanburg, Inc. are hosting the championships Nov. 22 at Roger Milliken Cross Country course at the Roger Milliken Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The men's race will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern, followed by the women's race at 11 a.m. Eastern. A live webstream of the championships will occur on NCAA.com beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern time until the conclusion of the awards ceremony.
