The men’s cross country team finished in fourth place at the Navy Invitational. The Jays finished behind three D-I Mid-Atlantic region teams, Navy, American and UMBC, respectively, turning in 107 points. The Jays were able to outrun the fifth place finishing team of Richmond by 13 points while crushing respectable D-I running programs such as George Washington, Loyola, Howard and Bowie State.
The Jays were paced by senior Austin Stecklair, who finished 16th overall with a time of 25:26.47. Two other Hopkins athletes turned in top 30 spots. Andrew Ceruzzi ran a 25:42.76, and Ryan Alvarez posted a 25:55.66 on the extremely hilly eight-kilometer course. Junior Schaffer Ochstein and sophomore Stefan Arnold made up the rest of the Jays’ top five.
“The race came out pretty hard, which broke up our pack more than we would’ve liked, but eventually everyone settled in and ran the race," said Stecklair. “This was our first real test as a team this year, and it was a solid start. We’ve got some work to do to achieve our full potential, but our focus is on November, and we’ve definitely got the guys we need to do some damage on the national level."
The Jays certainly looked excellent against some of the stiffest D-I competition in Maryland.
However, it was Navy who ended up dominating the field overall. Several midshipmen runners finished the first mile in just 4:40. Navy controlled the race from the beginning seconds and finished on top. The first four runners to finish the race were midshipmen, as Navy claimed seven places in the top 10.
The Jays saw solid contributions from several freshmen, with three of them breaking 26:40. Tyler Wolfe finished 38th, and Panth Patel and Geoffrey Kazlow finished in 44th and 45th place, respectively.
While finishing fourth in an event featuring many D-I schools may seem impressive, many of the Jays’ runners were less than satisfied by their performance on Saturday. Ceruzzi said, “I felt like we underperformed this weekend and should’ve been able to beat both UMBC and American. Teams like Navy and American are squads we feel like we can compete with."
Stecklair echoed Ceruzzi's sentiment, saying that he felt he could've performed at a higher level. “We run a lot of races with D-I teams," he said. "As an elite D-III program, we are always looking for tough competition to better ourselves. Anytime we get the chance to compete at that level, it is a fun opportunity.”
The Jays’ cross country team will return to action at the Boston College Coast to Coast Invitational on Sept. 26th. Ceruzzi summarized his feelings for approaching the next race. “I will take away motivation and experience from Saturday’s race," he said. "I would like to get out harder and keep pace with my teammate, Austin. I think our whole team knows we are better than what we have done, and now we know how much more we have to work"
