The Johns Hopkins Men's and Women's Cross Country teams competed in the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional meet in Lehigh, PA on Saturday, November 11.
Both teams finished with several remarkable individual performances and strong team finishings. The women placed 12th out of 40 total schools competing (34 complete teams) and the men finished 17th out of 40 schools (31 complete teams).
The women were led by two runners who showed drastic improvement from their previous season best times.
Sophomore Heather Blair led with a 32nd place finish at a season-best time of 19:29, shattering her previous best by almost 30 seconds. Blair received All-Region honors due to her top-35 finish. She now has three of the top four times this season for Hopkins.
This season marks Blair's first cross country season ever, including high school.
Freshman Peggy Chu followed, shaving her season best by 20 seconds at 19:58 and finishing in 50th place. Junior Hilary Knipe finished in 75th place at a time of 20:24.
"With our top six runners returning for next year, as well as what looks like will be a very good recruiting class, the JHU Blue Jays should be one of the top teams in the region next year," said head coach Bobby Van Allen.
Next year, the women's team looks forward to welcoming back Jen Schutz, a top runner from last year who is currently studying abroad in Spain.
The men were led by sophomore Steven Chu, who finished at his second-best time of the year at 27:42 and a 65th place finish. Chu's finish was the second best finish for the team this season. Junior Jamie Parks finished close behind at a time of 27:48 and a 71st place finish, the best time of his career.
"Jamie probably had the best performance out of all the men," said Van Allen.
Senior John Apperson, who has been a consistent leader for the team throughout the season, unfortunately was forced to battle severe stomach problems and finished as the fifth Blue Jay, well below his fastest time of the year.
The team has been impressed with this season and is looking forward to an even stronger season next year.
"The team, which is extremely young, gained a lot of experience this season and should be much improved next year, as they return six out of their top seven runners," commented Van Allen.
Next year, the team will welcome back junior John Onofrey, the No. 2 runner for Hopkins last season, who has been studying abroad at Oxford. Van Allen also looks forward to what he believes to be the strongest recruiting year ever for the Jays.
Both teams are very young and are in one of the strongest conferences in the nation.
This was shown especially by the success of the conference at the regional meet, with seven out of the top 12 women's teams being from the Centennial Conference.
"I was really proud of both the men's and women's teams this year, as almost every single runner had huge personal improvements throughout the season," remarked Van Allen.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.