Junior Sophia Meehan has paced the Hopkins cross country runners all season. Recently, she’s been pacing the competition too. Meehan was named the Centennial Conference Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week Monday for her performance in the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh AAE Invitational this past weekend.
Meehan finished second in the race, which counted among its participants the first and third ranked D-II teams, Grand Valley State and Minnesota-Duluth, respectively. Meehan’s time of 20:57.41 was her second fastest of the season, the second time she has finished in less than 21 minutes and would be fast enough to lead the Lady Jays for the third time this season. As a team, Hopkins finished third behind State and Duluth, but ahead of D-II fourth-ranked Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), sixth-ranked Washington University, and 14th-ranked Calvin College.
The award is the third of Meehan’s career and fourth of the season for the Lady Jays. Her outstanding performance last weekend, combined with her sustained excellence throughout the season and her career, have earned her Athlete of the Week honors. She was gracious enough to answer a few questions about what she has been able to accomplish.
The News-Letter: You've been on somewhat of a roll lately, posting the top Hopkins time in each of your last three races. How do you think you've been able to sustain this run?
Sophia Meehan: Our coach, Bobby, has had us doing some very tough workouts which has helped me and the other girls prepare to hold a certain pace in the past few races. I’ve just been working hard and as much as I can to keep seeing improvement. It’s really been so helpful to have such a talented and dedicated team to work off of each other.
N-L: Is there any special preparation or training you've been doing, particularly for your last three races?
SM: We’ve been doing workouts with shorter and quicker reps to practice getting off the line and holding that faster pace. It’s a pretty similar training plan from years past.
N-L: What challenges did you face from the course or the other runners during the race?
SM: The course was really nice and will be a great place for nationals next year. It was pretty cold and windy, which made for tough racing conditions, but I think our team managed it well.
N-L: Do you have any comments about the races coming up? How do you feel about your chances with the conference championship and NCAA regionals and championships on the horizon?
SM: I’m very excited about the upcoming meets. Our team has some pretty big goals. Obviously winning another title is the ultimate goal. I think we have so many girls that can be all-conference, all-region and maybe even all-American, so I’m looking forward to a lot of great performances.
N-L: Are there any lessons you've taken from your very successful first two seasons that you hope to apply as the season wraps up?
SM: I think an important lesson that I’ve picked up from previous years is to keep working hard until the end of the season, but don’t over-do it. Everyone wants to continue to see improvement, but you don’t want to be completely exhausted by championship season. Hopefully, our team will find a good balance and run our best when it counts.
Meehan has been one of the top Hopkins runners since her freshman year. She finished last year as First Team All-Centennial Conference and Second Team the year before. She will have a wealth of experience to draw from when the championship season starts Nov. 1 with the Centennial Conference Championship in her hometown of Haverford, Pa. The NCAA Regionals will be Nov. 15, before the season wraps up Nov. 22 with the NCAA Championships.
