In the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 7, the Hopkins men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams made the two hour trek to Collegeville, Pa. for the Frank Colden Invitational.
After a long day of events, both squads departed the Floy Lewis Bakes Center in first place.
Hopkins men and women dominated across the board, beating their closest opposition in the Wesley Wolverines and the Stockton Wolverines by considerable margins.
En route to securing the highest team scores, the Jays brought home five men’s and four women’s titles.
In the men’s 4x800-meter relay, the combination of junior Tom Reinhart, freshman Kevin Peters, sophomore Colton Takata and freshman Scott Pourshalchi won in dominant fashion.
The nearest competition finished over eight seconds behind them.
“Everyone on our 4x8 team had already run that day and were a little tired, but we still wanted to compete,” Peters said. ”We all wanted to end the day with a big performance, and everyone did just that with everyone running in the low two minutes for their leg.”
In distance, the dominance continued with Hopkins taking first through eighth in the 3,000-meter run. Sophomores John McMullin, Schaffer Ochstein and Charles Thornton rounded out the top three spots.
The pole vault featured junior Andrew Bartnett, who secured first for the second week in a row. This week, the Missouri native reached 5.0 meters.
Sophomore Alex Kossak posted a consistent high mark as well, earning second behind his teammate.
Senior Devin Conley contributed 10 more points to the men’s title with a victory in the high jump.
Back on the track, Hopkins men saw even more contributions from young competitors, as freshman Jeff Braun went the distance to earn a solid third in the 5,000-meter run and freshman Dominic Yared sneaked by a Wesley runner to win the 800-meter race.
Freshman Felicia Koerner secured first in the one mile, just ahead of her fellow teammates, junior Tess Meehan and freshman Erin Brush.
The trend continued, as senior Jordan Delane won the 3,000 meter, just in front of fellow senior Hannah Oneda.
The Jays maintained control throughout, as junior Veronica Boswell, junior Lara Gaffney, sophomore Bridget Gottlieb and freshman Julia Chang took first through fourth in the 5,000 meter.
Sophomore Caroline Smith, who was named last week’s Centennial Conference Runner of the Week, capitalized on her strong season thus far and sprinted to second place in the 800 meter.
In the field, senior Paige Marsh placed third in the triple jump, while freshman Jaymie Criscione prevailed in the high jump with a winning 1.55.
A portion of the women’s team will compete at the United States Naval Academy this Thursday Feb. 11, where they will look to capitalize on the momentum and confidence from last weekend’s team victory and progress toward the upcoming Centennial Conference Championships.
On Friday, Feb. 12, Hopkins will take some members of the men’s and women’s teams to the more selective David Hemery Valentine Invitational. Hosted by Boston University, the event will feature solid competitors from teams including the Georgetown University Hoyas, New York University Bobcats and Dartmouth College Big Green. According to Peters, the runners are looking forward to proving themselves in the more competitive pool.
“We’re really excited to race in Boston though because it is a good opportunity to run against very strong competition,” Peters said. ”All the guys have been training hard to run their best times this weekend and carry the excitement of these earlier meets into this critical part of our season, as we get ready for conference and hopefully NCAA championships.”
Freshman Jordan Luciano, who finished third in last Saturday’s long jump, also expressed her excitement for the event, noting the extra work she has put in to be properly prepared.
“Going to the invitational as a freshman is a huge honor, and I am very excited to be participating in the meet,” Luciano said. “I am working with my coaches to work on my form and make sure my steps are good for the meet. The track is a great facility, and I am looking forward to competing against good competition.”
