Spring Break
Cross Country: Connolly '10 and Norton '11 top UAA standings
by Max Goldstein
Sports | 11/3/09
Posted online at 9:56 PM EST on 11/2/09
The Brandeis men's and women's cross country teams had mixed outings at last Saturday's University Athletic Association Championships in Cleveland. In team play, the men's team was fifth out of eight teams while the women's team was fourth, but both squads' individual performances highlighted the event.
Paul Norton '11 finished second out of 80 runners, and co-captain Ally Connolly '10 was 14th out of 81 runners to each earn all-UAA honors at the event.
Defending men's UAA champion and national champion No. 7 New York University won the men's race while No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis won the women's race.
The 26th-ranked men's team was the fourth-ranked UAA squad entering the meet but finished behind unranked WashU, which took fourth place behind No. 12 Emory University and No. 19 Carnegie Mellon University, which tied for second place.
Norton finished the 8-kilometer course in 26 minutes, 19.80 seconds, 13 seconds behind the overall winner, NYU senior Zach Maher. Norton's placement was the best by a Brandeis runner in the UAA Championship in five years, when Dan Crespin '05 was also the runner-up in 2004.
Norton also earned first-team UAA honors for the first time in his career after earning second-team all-conference honors last year with a 15th-place finish. Still, despite his improvement from last year's race, Norton felt he could have run this race better and cited cramps that hindered his effort.
"I was a little disappointed," he said. "I thought I could win this race, but I just did not perform as well I could have. I had cramping problems midway through the race, so that definitely hurt."
Other notable finishes on the men's side were Chris Brown '12, who finished in 19th place with a time of 27:09.8, 50 seconds behind Norton. Marc Boutin '12, who won rookie of the year honors at last year's UAA Championships, finished with the 13th-best time of 27:36.01, 11 spots down from last year's impressive finish. Dan Anastos '11 also improved his standing from last year's event, moving up 21 spots with a finish of a 27:39.92 for a 33rd-place finish.
Paul Norton '11 finished second out of 80 runners, and co-captain Ally Connolly '10 was 14th out of 81 runners to each earn all-UAA honors at the event.
Defending men's UAA champion and national champion No. 7 New York University won the men's race while No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis won the women's race.
The 26th-ranked men's team was the fourth-ranked UAA squad entering the meet but finished behind unranked WashU, which took fourth place behind No. 12 Emory University and No. 19 Carnegie Mellon University, which tied for second place.
Norton finished the 8-kilometer course in 26 minutes, 19.80 seconds, 13 seconds behind the overall winner, NYU senior Zach Maher. Norton's placement was the best by a Brandeis runner in the UAA Championship in five years, when Dan Crespin '05 was also the runner-up in 2004.
Norton also earned first-team UAA honors for the first time in his career after earning second-team all-conference honors last year with a 15th-place finish. Still, despite his improvement from last year's race, Norton felt he could have run this race better and cited cramps that hindered his effort.
"I was a little disappointed," he said. "I thought I could win this race, but I just did not perform as well I could have. I had cramping problems midway through the race, so that definitely hurt."
Other notable finishes on the men's side were Chris Brown '12, who finished in 19th place with a time of 27:09.8, 50 seconds behind Norton. Marc Boutin '12, who won rookie of the year honors at last year's UAA Championships, finished with the 13th-best time of 27:36.01, 11 spots down from last year's impressive finish. Dan Anastos '11 also improved his standing from last year's event, moving up 21 spots with a finish of a 27:39.92 for a 33rd-place finish.
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