The Hopkins women’s track and field team went into this weekend’s race at Bucknell University ranked tenth in the nation. After their impressive performances this weekend, the team should only improve in the rankings. The Blue Jays had many top performances and now have runners in the top 10 in the conference in every track event from the 60-meter dash to the 5k. When asked how the team was able to be competitive in every event, sophomore Alex Popkin said it is due to their commitment and hard work.
“I think our team has so many top runners in different events because everyone is so committed to training hard and improving,” Popkin said. “The entire team has been putting in so much work on and off the track to run faster times, and it is definitely paying off.”
This weekend was no different as Hopkins seemed to have someone at the front of every race.
Sophomore Brynn Parson has led the team in sprints so far this season and was named the Centennial Conference Track Athlete of the Week for last week. This weekend she continued to dominate placing fifth in the 200 meter in 26.48 for the fastest time in the conference. She also ran a personal best in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.02, which is the second fastest time in the conference.
Sophomore Megan McDonald finished close behind Parson in the 200-meter, placing seventh with a time of 26.81. She also finished second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.98, which was the fastest DIII time in the race. Her times in the 200-meter and 400-meter races now rank second and first in the conference, respectively. Fellow sophomore Emily Nordquist also ran a top conference time placing 10th in the 400-meter with a time of 1.01.27.
Having a strong sprinting group led by Parson and McDonald has allowed the team to excel by pushing each other every day and motivating each other in workouts.
“The group of us that do the workouts together are all really close and it definitely helps us motivate each other and drive each other to do better when we get to the meets because that’s what we do in practice,” McDonald said.
Parson and McDonald have been dominating the sprint events this season for Hopkins and the conference, but when it comes to the 800-meter race, senior Maggie Shelton has been in a league of her own. This weekend she broke the school record with a time of 2:12.29, which is currently the fastest time in the nation and helped her win the Centennial Conference Track Athlete of the Week this week. Her time is less than a second away from the conference record. Despite the blazing time, Shelton’s goal was never to set any records, but was simply focusing on improving her times.
“I wanted to run a 2:13 or faster this weekend to improve my seed time for nationals which happened to be the record,” Shelton said. “But to get the record was a great feeling because Jordan Ireton was one of the best 800 runners to come through Hopkins and I have the utmost respect for her.”
Several other Hopkins girls put up top conference 800-meter times in the meet including Popkin, sophomore Hudson VanSlooten and freshman Tess Meehan who finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively with times in the low 2:20s.
Junior Frances Loeb was Hopkins' top finisher in the mile finishing second with a time of 5:03 for the second fastest time in the conference. After a breakout season during cross country last fall Loeb has continued to improve and has begun to define herself as one of the top distance runners in the conference.
Sticking with the distance events, senior Jenna Daya also turned in a solid performance finishing third in the 3000-meter race with a time of 10:15.13. Her time ranks her third in the conference.
The 800-meter record was not the only Hopkins record to be broken last weekend. It wasn’t even the only record to be broken by Shelton, as the women’s 4x400m team of McDonald, I. Johnson, Nordquist and Shelton finished in a time of 4:03.31 breaking the previous school record set in 2010.
The Hopkins girls were able to win the Cross Country National Championship the past two seasons, and, with this weekend’s performances, could be looking at a shot at an indoor title. Shelton said that even though they are thinking about nationals they try to take it one day at a time to make sure they are in the best shape they can be when nationals comes.
“A national title is definitely in the back of our minds for track. But right now the main focus is cutting down times and preparing the best we can for nationals,” Shelton said.
They will continue to try to cut down their times at the Boston University Valentine Invite this Friday and Saturday.
