Hi everyone, and welcome back to Hopkins sports in review! After an incredibly successful last week when several of our teams were crowned Centennial Conference champions, the Blue Jays carried over that success to this week, winning more games and titles. Let’s check out some results!
Women’s cross country: NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Champions
The women’s cross country team clinched their 16th consecutive NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship this weekend, earning a guaranteed spot in the NCAA Championship. This title comes after the program’s victory in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Mid Atlantic Championships, hosted on Nov. 8.
The Hopkins delegation — consisting of juniors Adriana Catalano, Aisling Callahan and Jamie Stelnik, graduate students Triya Roy, Emma Puetz and Phoebe White, and freshman Sydney Shock — had top-35 finishes, with five of our athletes earning top twelve finishes in the six-kilometer event. These fantastic performances helped lift Hopkins to first place on the team scoreboard, ahead of second-placed Carnegie Mellon University and third-placed Gettysburg College.
Shoutout to Puetz and Catalano for their third- and fourth-place finishes! Keep an eye out for our cross country athletes as they compete in the NCAA championships on Nov. 23.
Men’s cross country: Second place in the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship
Our men’s cross country athletes had a great weekend at the regional championship this weekend, finishing in second place as Junior Emmanuel Leblond conquered the individual title, becoming the second athlete in program history to achieve this! After a victory at the ECAC Division III Mid-Atlantic Championships, our Blue Jay athletes extended this success, as all seven Hopkins runners achieved top-35 finishes.
Congratulations to Leblond (first), graduate student Lucas Rackers (third), sophomore Kenny Wanlass (eighth), junior Rowan Cassidy (ninth), graduate student Sean Enright (19th), junior Connor Oiler (26th) and senior Andrew Myers (28th). Leblond, Rackers, Wanlass and Cassidy all received automatic qualifications for the NCAA championships. There is still an opportunity for our other runners through an NCAA process known as an at-large bid. You can read more about this process here on the NCAA official webpage!
Women’s volleyball: W(3–0), W(3–0, Centennial Conference champions)
The women’s volleyball team had a fantastic home game this Saturday, Nov.16 in a 3–0 conference semi-final shutout against Gettysburg College, with final set scores of 25–20, 25–15 and 25–21. Our athletes hit an impressive .387 and improved to 28–2 in the season to advance to the Championship title match for the eighth consecutive year. Shoutout to junior Simone Adam, senior Simrin Carlsen, sophomore Ivy Swafford and graduate student Jilienne Widener for their combined 48 kills!
The following day, on Nov. 17, the Jays played the Swarthmore College Phoenixes to decide the winner of the conference, and they beat the Phoenixes three sets to zero to claim an eighth consecutive Centennial Conference title! Our athletes had an incredible outing this Sunday, claiming the first set with a score of 25–18, with the final point being a kill by Carlsen. A stunning run during this first set allowed the Jays to flip the scoreboard from 4–6 to 9–6. Following from this, the second set saw the Jays extend their advantage with a 25–16 triumph, with a remarkable four points by service aces! The third and final set saw strong competition and memorable drives from both teams before Hopkins embarked on a powerful six-point run to wrap up the set 25–16.
Upcoming games
As we head into the final weeks of the fall semester, there are several exciting championship tournaments coming up for our fall and winter sports as well as some season openers for our spring sports!
As previously mentioned, our cross country athletes will head to the NCAA Championships this upcoming Saturday, Nov. 23!
In addition, as the basketball season gets underway, keep an eye out for our women’s and men’s basketball teams. The former will be playing two games this upcoming weekend: a game against Roanoke College at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22 and followed the next day by a game against Randolph-Macon College at 4 p.m. Our men’s basketball team will also play two games, traveling up to Grand Rapids, Miss. to take on John Carroll University and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23, respectively.
