The long hours of training that began in June in preparation for the cross country season proved to be worth it this past weekend, when both the men’s and women’s teams delivered impressive performances.
The NCAA Mideast Regional Championships were held this past weekend at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa. With their ninth straight Regional title, the women solidified their ticket to the NCAA National Championship being held next weekend.
Leading the Jays once again was sophomore Felicia Koerner, who continued her dominant 2016 campaign with another individual title of her own. Left with big shoes to fill, Koerner was the Jays’ fifth individual regional champion and third in a row.
The sophomore has led the Jays in every race of the season thus far and has continued to dominate entire fields of runners as she crossed the line this past weekend an entire 26 seconds ahead of the next runner.
Koerner’s lead was accompanied by equally impressive performances from her teammates, who collectively took home the team title with just 38 points.
Senior Tess Meehan trailed Koerner in sixth place and earned her fourth All-Region honors, becoming the first runner in Hopkins history to accomplish such a feat.
Staying true to form, the Jays raced in a tight pack from the gun and finished the 6K with only 60 seconds between the first and fifth runner.
The first five Blue Jays to cross the line, those who would contribute to the team score, all finished within the top 16 spots.
Along with Koerner, three other Jays clocked a time of under 22 minutes for the 6K course, while no other team competing had more than one runner under the 22-minute mark.
While the women were able to meet the lofty expectations they established from prior seasons, the men stunned many spectators who never conceived the possibility of a Blue Jay victory.
After falling to Haverford in a tough nine-point loss at the Centennial Conference Championship two weeks ago, the disheartened Hopkins team was expected to follow behind their rivals once again at the Regional meet.
Instead, the men turned their disappointment into excitement and were even more motivated to deliver a tough performance in what was thought to be their last meet of the season.
“We did not expect to come out with a win,” junior Louis Levine said. “In terms of strategy, we just emphasized putting ourselves in a position to contend with the other teams.”
After their third straight second place finish at conferences, the men used the next two weeks of training to work on closing the gap between their first and fifth runner.
The separation between the Jays’ scoring runners proved to be their biggest weakness at conferences, with a full 80 seconds separating the first five Blue Jays to cross the line.
At DeSales, the Hopkins men seemed to be racing as a whole new team. The Jays left an unprecedented 28 seconds between their first five runners at Regionals to edge the Fords out by just one point. The victory granted the Jays an automatic bid into the NCAA National Championship
“When we saw the results, we were ecstatic. It was especially exciting to be able to bounce back after the loss at conferences,” Levine said. “All of our guys had great races, but the difference this week was in our fifth guy.”
All season long, the Hopkins women reaped the benefits of pack running, and now the men have caught on too. The men executed their strategy as close to perfectly as any of them could have hoped for.
The Hopkins men and women will both have their last race of the season this weekend in the NCAA National Championships.
Look for the Blue Jays to have some of the best races of their season as they travel to Louisville, Ky. The women will look to avenge their fourth place finish last year after winning NCAA three straight years between 2012 and 2014. They will race against the best teams from across the country on the morning of Nov. 19.
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