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John Evans ran with incomplete squads at the UMass-Dartmouth Shriner’s Invitational on Sunday. It didn’t matter much.

Despite not competing its top two first-years team finished in third place at the 36-school competition.

Ranked 10th in the nation, the Judges lost to Number 28 Keene State by only six points. MIT came in second, scoring 76 points to Brandeis’ 79.

“We held out our top runner, Paul Norton ’11, with a slight Achilles injury,” Evans wrote in an e-mail to The Hoot. “Plus we ran our two top freshmen, Taylor Dundas ’14 and Ed Colvin ’14, in [the] JV race.”

Dundas and Colvin went 1-2 in the junior varsity race.

Brandeis finished four of its runners in the top twenty positions. Marc Boutin ’12 completed the 8K in 24:43, good for sixth overall. Devon Holgate ’11, Dan Anastos ’11, and Kerwin Vega ’11 placed 11th, 18th, and 20th, respectively, and Chris Brown ’12 finished 33rd with a time of 25:38. Brandeis was the first team to send its five scoring runners across the finish line.

“With Norton, or if we had run the freshmen in varsity, we would have won easily. In terms of both performances and depth, this is our best ever start to [a] season,” wrote Evans.

On Tuesday, Boutin, a two-time All-New England runner, was named the University Athletic Association’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week. It is the Westford, Mass. native’s first time receiving the award.

For the women, Kate Warwick ’12 and Erin Bisceglia ’12 were Brandeis’ only competitors in the varsity race. Warwick crossed the line third overall, running a personal best 17:57 in the 5K. She completed the race four seconds behind the second place finisher, and 23 seconds out of first. Bisceglia ended her day in 14th place with a time of 18:30.

Amelia Lundkvist ’14, Vicky Sanford, ’14 and Monique Girard ’13 took part in JV competition.

“All ran great, establishing big PR’s,” explained Evans.

Grayce Selig ’11, Hannah Lindholm ’11 and Ali Kirsch ’14 will be among the Brandeis women running in the team’s next race, the Open New England Championships on Oct. 9. The men’s team will also be competing in the event, scheduled to take place in Boston’s Franklin Park at 10 a.m.