Both the Hopkins men and women’s track and field teams participated in the Duke Invitational meet this past weekend against talented, mostly Division I competition. However, the Hopkins team ran extraordinarily fast and posted superb times across the board, including record-breaking performances from both teams. Highlighting the women’s squad was senior Annie Monagle, who ran the nation’s fastest 800-meter time. In a sport that stresses personal achievement, Monagle places more importance on the team and on the success of her teammates.
“It was so exciting this weekend to see so many of my teammates get personal and school records. We had some incredible performances in every event and it was overall a very successful weekend in a very deep and competitive environment. I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates." Monagle continued, "I am confident we will continue shattering records — personal, school, and conference — in the weeks to come."
Freshman Hannah Oneda set the conference record in the 3000-meter race with a time of 9:50.90, outlasting runners from the University of North Carolina and Duke down the stretch. Oneda said "The 3K race at Duke was just a fun race for me to run, especially with having the entire team there to cheer me on. We are all getting excited about having a lot of girls qualify for outdoor nationals and junior nationals. It just goes to show how strong our program will be in the years to come”.
Finishing right after Oneda was freshman Courtney Kelly, who posted a career-best 10:09.21 while finishing fifth in the event. Hopkins also got fast times from Gabi Drummond, with a 10:32.32, and Josey Mintel, with a 10:46.07. Freshman Megan McDonald set a program record in the 400-meter hurdles by running a 1:04.25, while two other Hopkins runners, Alexa Tzaferos and Nikki Kerns, finished with noteworthy times.
In the track portion of the meet, freshman Imoni McCorvey broke her own school record with an 11.30 meter bound in the triple jump and Emily Kashka tied the best performance of her career by vaulting 10’6” in the pole vault. In total, the Lady Jays broke nine records on the weekend in addition to numerous personal bests.
On the men's side, junior Max Robinson headed a squad that ran stride for stride with tough, top-tier programs in Durham, North Carolina over the two-day event. Robinson broke the Hopkins 5000-meter record, which had stood for more than 36 years, by 12 seconds with his time of 14:33.23. Robinson was well aware of the record and it took everything he had, despite flying by Jim Kennedy’s 36-year-old record with relative ease, to put up his astounding time.
“I’ve been trying to break it for awhile now, so finally getting it felt pretty awesome” stated Robinson. The junior also commended the strong performances of his teammates.
“We’re trying to win outdoor nationals and send a few guys to nationals as well. Runs from James Frick, Josh Budman and Andrew Casey were big for us and Mike Spadaro had a great day in the triple jump” said Robinson.
In the past 13 years under Coach Bobby van Allen, five runners have broken 15 minutes in the 5000 meter race.
Three of the five accomplished this feat at the Duke Invitational with freshman Schaffer Ochstein and senior Josh Baker also accomplishing the feat.
Andrew Carey ran a season best time of 1:53.78 in the 800-meter race, finishing 13th in the event. He currently ranks in the top ten in the nation for the event. Two steeplechase runners, Josh Budman and Andrew Ceruzzi, ran solid times of 9:33.02 and 9:47.00, respectively. Michael Spadaro and Brendan Evans also had good days by finishing 10th and 11th overall in the triple jump. Hopkins’ runners will look be in top form for the Centennial Conference Championships on May 3-5 and the NCAA Championship on May 23-25.
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