Junior distance runner Frances Loeb found herself in a less than desirable situation at the Haverford Invitational.
“It was an interesting race,” Loeb said of the 3000 meter run. “Penn was at our meet and they were our main competition. I was leading the whole time and one of the girls from Penn was just sitting on me. My first lap was pretty slow for a first lap, but I knew the Penn girls would be pretty good, so I was hoping I could sit on them and let them do some of the work. So in my first lap I was waiting for her to pass me but after a while I was like, ‘Nope, I guess I’m leading.’ She was sitting right on me. Multiple times she would hit my butt when I was extending backwards and she was extending forwards. I knew she was going to beat me. At the mile marker I thought she would finally pass me so I could sit on her, but then she didn’t. Then at three laps to go I thought she’d pass me, but then she didn’t. She passed me on the last lap.”
Loeb admitted she was uncomfortable leading the entirety of the race, claiming she would have preferred to sit behind the eventual winner.
“If you can just tuck in behind people and try to stay on them, you don’t have to think about how fast you’re going,” Loeb said. “You can just zone out and try to hang on. When you’re leading, you don’t want to go out too hard or go out too slow. Typically I’d rather work my way up instead of leading.”
She would go on to lose the race by three seconds. However, Loeb’s time of 9:57.86 was still good enough to rank her fourth in Division III in the 3000 meter run thus far.
“Last year, I never would have thought I’d be in this position,” Loeb said. “I can’t believe I’m at this point. I feel so lucky that everything is going well with me. I love it. I’m such a track nerd.”
The Lady Jays left the Haverford Invitational last Saturday with five individual wins. Sophomore sprinter Brynn Parsons led the way with two first place finishes, winning the 60 meter race (8.03) and the 200 meter run (26.77). Senior captain Emily Swenson was among the other first place finishers, tossing a distance of 13.40 meters in the shotput, falling one fifth of a meter short of her career best. Loeb had no shortage of kind words for her captain.
“She definitely motivates the other throwers,” Loeb said.
Other first place finishers included the Hopkins ‘A’ 4x400 meter relay team (4:06.82) and sophomore sprinter Megan McDonald in the 400 meter run (59.77). However, according to Loeb, the most surprising performance of the day belonged to senior captain Maggie Shelton who finished fourth in the mile with a time of 5:06.79.
“Maggie’s mile was awesome,” Loeb said. “She hadn’t raced the mile ever in college. I think she raced it once in high school. They put her in the mile this weekend and her first 800 was something like a 2:42 and her second 800 was like a 2:24. That’s just absurd. That was definitely fun to watch.”
Other notables include junior Ingrid Johnson finishing second in the 800 meter run (2:21.56), while sophomore Hudson Van Slooten slotted in at third (2:22.35) in her first ever race in the event.
Hopkins also placed third through seventh in the 60 meter run, first through third in the 400 meter run, fourth through seventh in the mile, and fourth and fifth in the 3000 meter run.
Two freshmen ran personal bests, as Veronica Boswell ran a 10:24 in the 3000 meter run, and Tess Meehan ran a 5:08.08 in the mile. The girls placed fourth and fifth respectively in their events.
The Lady Jays now turn their attention to the Bison Open this Friday and Saturday, where they will look to take down Bucknell in their return to Pennsylvania.
