Track teams break JHU records at Conferences

By: Mike Yuan

Posted: 3/6/08

This past weekend, the men's and women's track and field teams had their best finishes in school history in the Centennial Conference championships, hosted by Ursinus College. Both teams were able to break 100 points for the first time in school history over the two-day meet. The women matched last year's finish with a strong second place showing, scoring 108.5 points, while the men were able to finish with 108 points, good enough for third place, improving from last year's sixth-place finish.

Senior Becky Lossing got things started for the women as she leaped her way to 4.83 meters in the long jump, good enough for seventh place in the event. Senior co-captain Jessica Reeves also had a strong performance in the field, finishing second in the pole vault with a final vault of 2.89 meters. Junior Shannon Koh and freshman Logan Ashcraft were also able to tack on points, finishing tied for fifth and seventh, respectively.

On the track, junior Rachel Hogen led the Jays with a third-place finish in the mile, finishing with a time of 5:07.53, a new personal record. In the 5,000-meter run, junior Emma Hiza was able to top her old personal best by a whopping 15 seconds, dropping her new best down to 18:41.36 and qualifying her for ECACs.

In the relays, both the women's distance medley relay and 4x200 relay were able to pick up some points. The DMR team of freshmen Kit Harris and Martina Dodd, and juniors co-captain Jordan Ireton and Rachel Hogen finished fifth with a time of 12:54.38. The 4x200 relay team, which included Reeves, Ireton, freshman Anita Mikkilineni and junior Paula Osborn, were able to take home third place, finishing in 1:50.10.

On the men's side, the victories started early as senior Chris Cottrell and junior Adam Waddell took third and fourth place in the long jump, respectively. Their leaps of 6.41 meters and 6.38 meters were both new personal records. Waddell went on to break his own school record in the pole vault, where his final vault of 4.57 meters led him to a second place finish. "It felt great to finally get over 15 feet, which has been a goal of mine for a long time now," Waddell said. Junior Matt Trachtenberg finished right behind Waddell, setting a new personal best of 4.41 meters.

In a field of 21 milers, sophomore Graham Belton nabbed a sixth place finish with a time of 4:26.19. Senior co-captain Patrick Brandon was the only scorer in the 5,000-meter run, finishing sixth in 15:24.83.

The relay teams both saw second place performances. Senior co-captain James Bronson, sophomores Gordon Mack and Nate Sotuyo, and Belton combined for a total time of 10:28.28. The 4x200 meter team, comprised of Cottrell, sophomores Pierre Hage and James Walker and seniorTristan Thomas set a new school record with their time of 1:32.42. After one full day of competition, the women were in third place in the standings with 36.5 points, while the men were in second place with 47 points.

"I had no doubt that we would be scoring a lot on the second day," Ireton said, "so I didn't think too much about being in third on the first day. Our game plan on the second day was the same as the first, to run as hard as we possibly could in every race, and we were pumped and excited to see what would happen," she said.

Day two's field events started with the triple jump, where once again, Lossing was able to help the team, finishing eighth with a jump of 9.57 meters and winning the high jump with a final jump of 1.60 meters. The height sets a new standard at Hopkins as the new school record.

Reeves wasn't far behind, finishing fifth with a jump of 1.50 meters, while junior Kathy Horn rounded out the Hopkins scorers for the event, placing eighth with 1.35 meters.

Mikkilineni was the top Hopkins finisher in the 55-meter hurdles. Qualifying in 9.07 the previous day, Anita finished fourth overall with a time of 9.14. In the 55-meter dash, Hopkins saw strong performances from Osborn and Reeves. Osborn had the top qualifying time from the previous day at 7.50 and was able to turn that into a second-place finish on Sunday, running a 7.55.

Reeves finished seventh in the event, posting a time of 7.81. In the 400-meter run, Ireton, the lone Jay in the event, was able to earn five points, finishing in fourth place with a time of 1:00.14. Kit Harris added on three points with her sixth-place finish in the 800, running 2:25.25. Ireton and Osborn were able to score in the 200 meter dash as well, finishing in fourth (26.71) and eighth place (26.95), respectively.

Needing points to pull away from Dickinson, the 3,000-meter run saw Hopkins runners take first and third place. Hogen won the event in 10:27.97, and Hiza, who was seeded 13th, was able to pull off the third place upset in 10:39.23. Hiza's performance once again qualified her for ECACs.

In the relays, the 4x800 team of Dodd, senior Kelly Gonzalez, freshman Elizabeth Laseter and Harris finished sixth in 10:14.88. The 4x400 team set a new school record, as Mikkilineni, Osborn, Dodd and Ireton ran 4:09.97, finishing in second place overall.

On the men's side, Waddell continued racking up points as he finished fifth in the triple jump with a jump of 12.95 meters, and third place in the high jump with 1.86 meters. Senior co-captain Michael Palantoni jumped his way to seventh place in the high jump with a height of 1.81 meters. Junior Peter Li's throw of 14.36m took second place in the shot put.

Tristan Thomas was able to narrowly hold off Ursinus's Brandon Evans as he won the 55-meter dash in 6.55. His qualifying time the day before of 6.51 was a new school record. Cottrell was able to finish fourth in the event with a time of 6.71. Thomas was also able to finish seventh in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.14.

Freshman Brahma Kumar and Walker were the top Jays in the 400 with times of 53.34 and 53.39, good for sixth and seventh place. Sotuyo placed second in the 800 with a time of 1:57.23, the only Hopkins scorer in the event.

The 4x800 meter team of Mack, sophomore Noah Jampol and freshmen Eliot Wehner and Brandon Hahn earned a fourth-place finish of 8:06.55. The highlight of the meet came when Waddell was named the outstanding field performer of the meet, the first Hopkins athlete ever to receive the award.

The award came well-earned, as Waddell single handedly scored 23 of the men's 108 points. "I was very honored to receive the outstanding field performer award, especially since there were a lot of great competitors in all of the field events," he said.

Commenting on the men's finish this weekend, Palantoni said, "Overall this was the best meet the team has had in recent history. Not just because of our performance, but because of the fact that this was a true team effort. We knew going in that we were going to have a chance to score in every event, and as a result this meet became much more team focused than it has ever been in the past."

On the women's side, Reeves said, "I find it incredible that despite the fact we were missing some of our key point scorers due to injury or having graduated, we still managed to not only get second place for the second year in the row, but we beat our previous point total. I feel that this was a great conference championship for the women, and puts us in a great position for outdoor season, where we will go for gold."

The season continues next weekend for both the men and women, as those who were able to qualify for ECACs will be competing at the ECAC indoor championships in Boston, hosted by Harvard University.