For the first time in over 50 years, the Hopkins men’s cross country team captured the Centennial Conference Championship. While there have been a variety of contributors that have been crucial to the team’s success this year, the most consistent and dominant runner on the team has been senior captain Max Robinson. Robinson led the way again this past weekend at the Conference Championships where he took third place overall. He has been a leader all year long for the cross country team, and his relentless determination has helped him to finish well in every race regardless of the teams he faced. As a result of his great success The News-Letter has awarded Robinson with the Athlete of the Week title. We were able to catch up with the star distance runner to ask him a few questions about the season and the team’s preparation for the NCAA playoffs.
News-Letter: What has been the key to the success of the team this season?
Max Robinson: The key to our success has been our confidence this year. I’ve never seen everyone so fired up and truly believing that we’re number one in the conference. It’s been an awesome experience so far.
N-L: What individual feats have you been able to accomplish so far? Are their any other goals that you plan on achieving before the end of the season?
MR: I was able to run a personal best earlier this year, which is always nice. I’m still looking to drop that time even further and hopefully do some pretty big things at regionals and nationals.
N-L: The men’s team recently won their first ever Centennial Conference championship. What does this mean to you?
MR: Winning our first Centennial Conference championship ever is arguably the biggest thing that’s ever happened to this program. We’ve raised the bar to a completely new level, and I’m just happy that I’ve been here to be part of the ride.
N-L: What are the goals of the team for the rest of the season?
MR: We definitely want to show up in two weekends and win the region, which I think is very realistic after this past weekend’s performance. The sky is the limit for nationals. I think we have a chance to surprise a lot of people there.
N-L: What does the team need to do in preparation for the NCAA Regionals?
MR: We’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing to prepare for regionals. We’ll start backing off our mileage a bit this week during practice, which will leave us fresher for that race. I believe in our team and I think we have the chance to do great things at regionals.
N-L: Thank you, Max. Best of luck in the playoffs!
MR: Thank you. We look forward to a great run at Regionals.
The boys will hit the road in a couple of weekends to travel to Allentown, Pa. where they will face the toughest competition in the region at the NCAA playoffs. We wish Robinson and the rest of the cross country team the best of luck heading into the playoff races and hope that they can bring home big wins at Regionals and Nationals.
