On Nov. 22, the Hopkins women’s cross country team traveled to the city of Mason, Ohio to compete in the D-III National Championships. The Lady Jays entered the race coming off of a blowout victory in the Mideast Regional Championships — pacing the field by 71 points. That win represented their seventh straight regional title, and the team seemed primed to capture its third straight national championship. Last year, Hopkins defeated Williams for championship victory with a winning score of 85 points.
A year later, the Lady Jays struck many parallels to their previous victory and successfully completed a three-peat. The team scored 87 total points, almost an identical total to 2013, while putting four runners in the race’s top 30. On the autumn Saturday afternoon, they comfortably defeated another Massachusetts college, second place Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), by 25 points while St. Lawrence University, Washington University in St. Louis and SUNY Geneseo rounded out the top five spots, respectively. The Lady Jays became the first D-III women’s cross country team to win at least three championships in a row since Cortland State achieved the feat from 1992-1995.
Coach Bobby Van Allen’s squad emerged from a group of teams that constituted 32 different qualifying schools, as well as 56 runners qualifying on individual merit. Junior Sophia Meehan led the pack of powder blue, slotting a sixth place finish in the enormously competitive field. The 2014 Centennial Conference Runner of the Year posted an impressive 21:47.2 minute time on the 6k. Following closely behind was senior Ashley Murphy, whose 22:08.01 was good enough for 15th place. Even better was her improvement, finishing 16 spots higher than she did in an impressive 2013 race. Tess Meehan, sophomore and sister to the team frontrunner, placed at 24th with a 22:20.5, a considerably better performance than her respectable 137th place finish in 2013.
The extra family competition absolutely was a factor to helping the younger Meehan improve her time so much.
“I love running with and against my sister because she really pushes me to be the best I can be,” she said. “Training with her over the summer helped me get into the best shape I could possibly be in coming into preseason in August.”
Rounding out this proficient lead pack was senior Francis Loeb, crossing the line right behind Tess Meehan at 22:21.5, a time good enough for 29th place. The Lady Jay’s top four finishers displayed consistent excellence throughout the season, forming a lead pack that carried from race to race. Each of the runners earned All-American honors as well, with the Meehan sisters and Murphy garnering the award for the first time. Loeb was named All-American for the second time in her decorated career, which is even more impressive considering she spent much of the season injured and unable to compete.
Freshman Bridget Gottlieb capped off a great first season by finishing in 37th place overall (only seven seconds behind Loeb) and junior Caroline Powers placed 98th with a 23:12.3.
A usual presence among the top finishers for the Lady Jays, junior Hannah Oneda, placed 157th with a 23:37.8. Even after using the regional race as a sort of warm up, it was difficult for the two-time All-American to overcome a season beset by injury. Though running at the number one position for the past two Blue Jay championship teams, it was clearly a testament to the quality and depth of Van Allen’s program that the elite runner Oneda’s 157th place finish did not hold back a loaded squad from capturing top honors once more.
Although this year’s championship was held at a different location, the Lady Jays effectively prepared for the course and adapted when the weather threw them a curve ball.
“The course was great because it was so flat, but it was still really muddy from snowing earlier in the week,” Tess Meehan said. “In order to be prepared for this, we previewed the course the day before to see where the really bad spots were so we could avoid them during the race. We also wore longer spikes to help prevent us from slipping on any of the problem spots.”
After finishing the season on a high note, Hopkins can look forward to being back in this position come November 2015. The Jays return five of their top seven runners, including a healthy Oneda, for another shot to continue their dominance.
