On Saturday, the Hopkins men's and women's cross country teams raced in the Paul Short Invitational, a prestigious tournament with a competitive field of many of the nation's most elite runners. The meet was split into three races: Gold, Brown and White, with Gold being the most competitive. Both the men's and women's teams competed in the Gold race, finishing 30th and 10th, respectively.
Senior Austin Stecklair finished on top among Hopkins runners with a personal best time of 24:59, establishing his pace from the beginning of the race. The sub-25 minute time was not only the first in his career but also the only one among Centennial Conference runners. With a top-10 finish among D-III runners, Stecklair was named the Centennial Conference Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week.
Right behind Stecklair were sophomore Stefan Arnold and senior Andrew Ceruzzi, who both fought to maintain a pack of Hopkins runners. They finished with times of 25:35 and 25:40, respectively, each under a minute behind Stecklair's stellar performance.
Junior Schaffer Ochstein (25:44) and sophomore Akshay Algahatta (26:16) rounded out the top five Blue Jay runners.
The team looks to improve its gap between the first and fifth Hopkins runners as the season progresses into more significant races.
The women's team had one of its best races of the season, finishing tenth with a season-best average time of 21:15.
"It was a very competitive meet with a lot of D-I teams and our team was excited to contend well in such a talented field," junior Caroline Powers said.
Junior Sophia Meehan came out of the gate sprinting, and the rest of the Lady Jays followed her lead, according to freshman Bridget Gottlieb.
"I think I was able to have a good race because it was a pretty fast course, and a few of my teammates were ahead of me, so it kept pushing me to go faster to try and run with them," Gottlieb said.
After her quick start, Meehan remained relentless, slowly accelerating her pace to finish 18th. Her 20:30 time was a personal best.
Senior Ashley Murphy and Gottlieb kept up the fast pace, chasing Meehan to their own personal best runs of 21:16 and 21:22, respectively.
"We tried to get out fast, and I think that really helped," Gottlieb said.
The Lady Jays never let themselves off of the quick pace they set out from the start.
Gottlieb, even after her personal best race, had no trouble finding motivation.
"I want to work on my kick at the end of the race, and make sure I do not get passed by anyone," she said.
Sophomore Tess Meehan followed fourth among Hopkins runners with a personal record of her own (21:25) and Powers (21:41) rounded out the top five.
"I was happy with my individual time as it was a big improvement from last year,” Powers said.
The Lady Jays continued to solidify their position as one the elite teams in the country but still look to improve, especially in maintaining a tight pack runners throughout the race.
"We will all continue to train hard with one another and focus on racing in packs, hopefully tightening the gap between our top runners," Powers said.
After a successful meet, both teams will take a week off before they split their teams to compete in both the Oshkosh Invitational in Wisconsin and the Princeton Invitational in New Jersey.
