Spring Break
CROSS COUNTRY: Norton leads men's squad at Nationals
by Ian Cutler
Sports Editor
Sports | 11/25/08
Posted online at 11:27 PM EST on 11/24/08
In its first appearance in the NCAA Championships in 10 years, the men's cross country team finished in 20th place out of 32 teams at last Saturday's meet at Handover College in Handover, IN.
Brandeis, which took eighth place at its last NCAA tournament appearance in 1998, scored 512 points and finished third among the four New England schools which qualified at the New England Regional Championships Nov. 15. The Judges finished four places ahead of Amherst College, which placed second at the Regional Championships, but finished behind Trinity College, which finished seventh, and New England champions Williams College, which placed third.
Cortland State College won the NCAA championship, with North Central College finishing in second place. Hamilton College junior Peter Kosegi won the race with a time of 24 minutes, 22.03 seconds.
Paul Norton '11 led the Judges, finishing 39th out of 278 runners in the eight-kilometer race with a time of 25 minutes, 2.44 seconds. Norton started off slowly, sitting around 100th place at the one-mile mark, but climbed up the ranks as the race went on. He was four slots away from achieving All-American status, which is given to the top 35 runners, but said he was still satisfied with his performance.
"I got off pretty badly, not quite the start I wanted," he said. "It was a nice way to run, to [move] up the ranks the whole way. I haven't run in a field like that in a while, so it was definitely good. It was a pretty intense finish."
Marc Boutin '12 had the next best time for Brandeis, finishing eighth among rookies and 129th overall with a time of 25:46.63. Boutin was proud of his performance after admitting to pre-race jitters.
"I ended up getting out exactly the way I wanted to," he said. "I was close to about 100th at the mile mark and ended up staying there for most of the race and finished 129th. I was happy with how I ran. I was nervous a little before the race, but I ended [up] doing pretty well."
Brandeis, which took eighth place at its last NCAA tournament appearance in 1998, scored 512 points and finished third among the four New England schools which qualified at the New England Regional Championships Nov. 15. The Judges finished four places ahead of Amherst College, which placed second at the Regional Championships, but finished behind Trinity College, which finished seventh, and New England champions Williams College, which placed third.
Cortland State College won the NCAA championship, with North Central College finishing in second place. Hamilton College junior Peter Kosegi won the race with a time of 24 minutes, 22.03 seconds.
Paul Norton '11 led the Judges, finishing 39th out of 278 runners in the eight-kilometer race with a time of 25 minutes, 2.44 seconds. Norton started off slowly, sitting around 100th place at the one-mile mark, but climbed up the ranks as the race went on. He was four slots away from achieving All-American status, which is given to the top 35 runners, but said he was still satisfied with his performance.
"I got off pretty badly, not quite the start I wanted," he said. "It was a nice way to run, to [move] up the ranks the whole way. I haven't run in a field like that in a while, so it was definitely good. It was a pretty intense finish."
Marc Boutin '12 had the next best time for Brandeis, finishing eighth among rookies and 129th overall with a time of 25:46.63. Boutin was proud of his performance after admitting to pre-race jitters.
"I ended up getting out exactly the way I wanted to," he said. "I was close to about 100th at the mile mark and ended up staying there for most of the race and finished 129th. I was happy with how I ran. I was nervous a little before the race, but I ended [up] doing pretty well."
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