Last Friday, Sept. 13, the men’s and women’s cross country teams laced up in State College, Pa for the Spiked Shoe Invitational. It was a very successful day for Hopkins as the women stormed their way to a second place finish while the men powered all the way up to a fourth place finish.
The women took to the 6k track first, which was a rough and hilly course meandering throughout the large campus of Penn State University. The course was not only very challenging, but also quite competitive. With Division I powerhouses like Penn State and West Virginia in the mix, the Hopkins girls knew they had their work cut out for them. That being said, the Lady Jays tore through the race and took home an impressive second place finish. Sophomore Hannah Oneda put together a performance that landed her sixth overall with a time of 21:47, a team best. Juniors Frances Loeb and Ashley Murphy both helped out by finishing in the top ten as well. Loeb’s 21:51 landed her in ninth place and Murphy’s 21:53 earned her a 10th place finish.
Aside from top 10 finishers, seniors Holly Clarke and Annie Monagle finished 11th and 13th respectively with times of 21:53 and 22:00. Hopkins also got a very stellar performance from Tess Meehan, the top freshman for the team. Her 23rd place finish combined with the rest of the team’s success boosted the women all the way to a second place finish overall with a final total of 49 points. "This race was quite possibly one of the best early season team performances we have ever had,” Coach Bobby Van Allen said.
Penn State seized the women’s championship with a score of 15 points. Their tops runners took all five of the top five places in the 6k. The top performer was Penn State’s Emily Giannotti, finishing with an unbelievable time of 21:17.
With their second place finish, the Lady Jay runners retained their number one national ranking for the second week in a row in the latest USTFCCCA Division III coaches poll. Led by Oneda and the resurgent Loeb, the women’s cross country team has once again pushed themselves to the top of the national ranks as the team attempts to defend their 2012 national title.
Not to be outdone, the men's team took their turn to run the difficult course. They also were faced by the challenges of stellar Division I teams such as Penn State and Bucknell. Led by senior Max Robinson, Hopkins managed to finish fourth overall with a score of 99 points. Robinson finished fourth in the race, with a time of 26:17. “Max ran superbly,” senior Andrew Carey said. “He was about 20 seconds away from a runner from Penn State who had broken 4 minutes in the mile. I think we all expected Max to be in great shape at this point, but the fact that he surpassed our expectations is incredible because he's such a good runner.” Senior Julian Saliani was the only other top ten finisher for the Blue Jays, finishing with a time of 26:53. Hopkins also got worthy performances from sophomore Schaffer Ochstein, junior Andrew Ceruzzi and Carey, who finished with impressive times of 26:53, 27:25 and 27:42 respectively.
Freshman Akshay Alaghatta showed his young talent by finishing with a time of 28:19. “He was only our 9th guy, but he ran a great time,” Carey said. “He has the temperament of a champion and has great racing instincts. I look forward to seeing how much he improves this season.”
Coach Van Allen showed optimism for the men’s future races. "We didn't do a good job of running together, and were strung out all over the place,” Van Allen said. “That's something we must continue to improve upon throughout the year. We're simply capable of performing better, and that will come as the season progresses.”
Bucknell took the men’s championship with two top 10 finishers and a score of 56 points. Robby Creese of Penn State clocked the best time for the men at 25:50.
As it is very early in the cross country season, both the men’s and women’s teams know that there is much work to be done in order to get into their best shape as a team and as individuals. “We are going to continue logging miles and training smart,” Carey said. “Our main goal is to get us all on the same page by the end of the season. If we can do that, we can achieve our goal of finishing top 10 in the nation.”
The Hopkins cross-country teams will look to build on their recent success on Sept. 27 at the Boston College Invite.
