Men’s and women’s track shines in Boston

After cancelled flights and over a foot of snow, the Hopkins Blue Jays were undeterred by the Boston weather as they put together perhaps one of their best team performances on the track.

Nearly every athlete recorded a personal best at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Indoor Invitational, as the team did not appear to be at all affected by the eight-hour train ride up to Boston. Instead, the Jays seemed to be in peak shape.

“Coach Bobby calls the BU track magical,” senior Shannon Martello said. “The expectation of running fast was there from the beginning and I think everyone used that mentality to our advantage.”

The Blue Jays certainty lived up to those expectations. To start, sophomore Felicia Koerner, who has been breaking school and Conference records, solidified her dominance in D-III. After posting the ninth-fastest 5K time in NCAA D-III history earlier this season, Koerner continued to break records up in Boston.

Crossing the line in a time of 9:24.24 for the 3K race, Koerner not only smashed her own personal record in the event by 25 seconds but also downed the Hopkins all-time record by a full 10 seconds.

She broke the Centennial Conference 3K record with her time. This marks the second-best performance ever in D-III history.

Koerner’s performance landed her a sixth place finish in a field composed of nearly 140 athletes from all divisions and even a number of unattached runners for established running clubs. For the fourth time this season, Koerner was named the Centennial Conference Track Athlete of the Week.

Joining Koerner in the 3K, with an impressive race of her own, was senior Tess Meehan, who crossed the line in 9:47.79 for a personal best in the event and a top-30 finish. Meehan trails her teammate in the Centennial Conference rankings in second and now holds the fourth fastest time in school history.

The distance crew continued to prove their fitness later on in the 5K race, led by sophomore Natalia LaSpada, who crossed the line in 17:32. Meanwhile, freshman Samantha Levy and sophomore Ellie Clawson remained on their teammate’s heels to clock personal-best times in the event, finishing 17:38 and 17:39, respectively.

The women also proved dominant in the middle distance races, with personal bests in nearly every event. In the mile race, Martello led the Jays, crossing the line in 5:07 to improve upon her career-best by eight full seconds.

The senior was exhausted after the last minute change in flights, but thankfully all the athletes had enough time to rest before their races in Boston.

“It was nice because even though people were napping throughout the day, everyone was able to get up and be at the track for the majority of the races,” Martello said. “Overall, I think we did a great job of not letting the last minute changes affect us.”

In the 800-meter race, a punishing test of both speed and endurance, sophomore Erin Brush ran the fastest time by a Blue Jay this season. Crossing the line in 2:17, Brush improved upon her previous mark by nearly five seconds, a considerable amount for a race that is just over two minutes long. The sophomore now leads the Conference in the event.

The men were no less impressive than the women this weekend in Boston. In the field, freshman Matthew Su broke his own school record by 0.10 meters in the long jump, becoming the first Blue Jay to break 7.0 meters. With his 7.04-meter jump, Su finished sixth overall in the event and leads the Conference over his fellow teammate, senior Andrew Bartnett.

Meanwhile, on the track, senior Jesse Poore broke the school record in the 400-meter dash, clocking 49.43 in the event.

Poore improved on his previous season best by .51 of a second and topped the Hopkins record by 0.43. Poore leads the Conference in the event followed by Bartnett, who clocked a 50.03 in Boston.

As for the middle distance, the mile was the event to watch, as every single Blue Jay competing ran a personal best in the event.

Leading the way was senior Tom Pavarini, who was best in his heat and clocked a remarkable 4:14 at the finish. Pavarini now holds the second best time in Hopkins history.

Six more Blue Jays would follow Pavarini’s lead and record personal bests in the event. Sophomores Scott Pourshalchi and Kevin Peters joined Pavarini, dipping under the 4:20 mark to run 4:18 and 4:19, respectively.

The Blue Jays’ performance in Boston indicates great things to come in the weeks leading up to conferences.

“Our goal is always to win both the men’s and women’s titles,” Martello said about the Centennial Conference Championship. “But since that is expected at this point, a lot of people are going to try and lower their personal bests further and push each other to qualify for Nationals.”

This weekend, the Blue Jays travel to Haverford College to compete in the Keough Invitational on Feb. 18.