XC battles at CC Championships

In their most anticipated weekend of the season, both the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the Centennial Conference (CC) Championship meet this past Saturday at Haverford College. The men, who came to the meet as the defending champions, took second place behind the host team of Haverford. The Lady Jays, who were missing last year’s two top runners due to injury, still claimed their seventh straight championship win. The conditions were far from ideal for the runners who were forced to compete on a muddy course with steady rain and 25 mile per hour winds. On the men’s side, senior co-captain Austin Stecklair led the Jays, finishing his eight-kilometer run in fifth place overall with a time of 25:50.3. Freshman Tyler Wolfe took seventh place with a time of 25:56.8. Wolfe, who was not in the team’s top five for his first season, was rewarded for his standout performance with the honor of Rookie of the Year in the conference. Stecklair was disappointed with the overall result of the race but encouraged by what he saw from the team overall. “We ran well as a team, and despite a somewhat disappointing loss to Haverford, we showed some promise with our ability to run in a tight pack,” Stecklair said. “Our new focus is to rebound at regionals and win the title and move onto nationals.” The Blue Jays totaled 48 points, second to host Haverford College’s 21 points. Behind them, in third place, the Dickinson Red Devils finished with 74 points. Stecklair and Wolfe were named First Team All-Conference for their top seven finishes. The Jays compete next in the Mideast Regional Championship at Dickinson College in two weekends. The Lady Jays were led by Haverford, Pa. native junior Sophia Meehan who finished the six-kilometer race in first place with a time of 21:37:0. She finished 25 seconds faster than the second place finisher Sarah Rutkowski of Dickinson College. Third, fourth and fifth place were all taken by Lady Jays. Freshman Bridget Gottlieb, sophomore Tess Meehan and senior Ashley Murphy cruised through the course as the Lady Jays dominated the top five. Gottlieb finished with a time of 22:19.9, while Meehan and Murphy both had times of 22:21.2. The Lady Jays collectively scored 20 points, besting the second-place finishers of Dickinson College by a margin of 32 points despite the Red Devils placing three runners in the top ten. Only one runner in the top ten was not a Lady Jay or a Red Devil, as tenth place-finisher Nora Weathers of Haverford College was the only highlight for the host school during the race. Overall the Lady Jays’ performance earned them the third best finish in the Championship’s history. Sophia and Tess Meehan, Gottlieb, Murphy and junior Caroline Powers earned First Team All-Conference recognition for their stellar performances. Graduate student Abby Flock, senior Grace Hancock, senior Gabi Drummond and sophomore Gabrielle Stephens were all named to the second team, which finished in the 8-14 slots. The Lady Jays will also be competing in Carlisle, Pa. at Dickinson College on Nov. 15 in the Mideast Regional meet. They’re looking to continue their dominance outside of the Centennial Conference. With both the men’s and women’s teams finishing the season with second and first place finishes, respectively, the Hopkins cross country programs continued their streak of dominance in conference playoffs and will look to build off of the positive momentum heading into the final weekends of the season.