Track travels to Terrapin Invitational

On Saturday, Jan. 30 the Hopkins men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams competed in the Terrapin Indoor Invitational.

Hosted by the University of Maryland, the event drew mostly local D-I teams to Hyatsville, Md.

“As a team, we love tough D-I competition,” sophomore distance runner Caroline Smith said. “To be the best we can be we want to compete against the best competition we can find. Racing against D-I teams throughout the season helps us go into the conference championship meet prepared and confident.”

The men’s and women’s teams proved to be a challenge for their competition since they both captured top five finishes.

Despite leading as they headed into the final event, the Hopkins men’s team fell just five points short of the title, which went to Howard University. The University of Maryland, American University and Virginia Union finished behind the Blue Jays in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively.

The men’s runner-up finish featured strong performances across the board, including individual titles by junior Andrew Bartnett in the pole vault and senior Schaffer Ochstein in the 5,000 meter.

Ochstein’s first place finish initiated the Jays’ three slot sweep in the event, as fellow runners sophomore Louis Levine and junior Akshay Alaghatta crossed the line just behind him to seal the second and third positions.

In the field, sophomore David Nessenson had the strongest showing for the Jays in the shot put with fourth at 13.00 meter, while freshman Grant Mosser led the Jays in the long jump with a seventh place finish.

“We actually went pretty hard in our workouts leading up to the meet,” Mosser said. “Right now we’re working hard so that by conferences we’ll be feeling really strong. We focused a lot on technique as well because we know that if we want to go anywhere our technique needs to be perfect. After the meet, I felt pretty good about it. It was my first college meet so my marks weren’t exactly where I wanted them to be but I know I’ll continue to improve, so I’m looking forward to the next few meets.”

The Lady Jays also fared well at Prince George’s Sportsplex against the D-I competition, securing fifth out of the 15 competing schools.

The Maryland hosts dominated with 180 points, while Navy, Delaware and Coppin State University outranked Hopkins.

Seniors Hannah Oneda and Jordan Delane complemented the men’s sweep in the 5,000 meter with top five finishes of their own, coming in third and fifth respectively. Freshmen Jaymie Criscione also leaped to a sixth place finish in the high jump.

Smith shined with a personal record of 9:59 in the 3,000 meter race. That time stands as the third best among NCAA Division III runners so far this season.

“I was nervous going into the race on Saturday because our workouts and practices were affected by the snow storm, and I wasn’t sure if the modified runs I had to do were enough,” said Smith. “Running is definitely a mental as well as physical sport, and I’m so grateful to have my teammates and coaches there to tell me that I’m ready even when I’m not so sure. I’m happy with my progress so far this season and the race on Saturday helped me see that as long as I’m putting the work in, everything will come together on race day.”

After Saturday’s meet, the Centennial Conference honored Smith as the Runner of the Week. Just a few weeks earlier, senior teammate Jordan Delane had been honored as a National Runner of the Week for D-III.

After battling the inconveniences of Winter Storm Jonas and some strong D-I competition, the track and field team will look to continually improve physically and mentally as they head to Collegeville, Pa. this Saturday for the Frank Colden Invitational. Fellow Centennial Conference members the Ursinus College Bears will host.