Track individuals shine at Western Maryland

Walking off impressive team performances last week at the Western Maryland Twilight Invitational, Hopkins athletes had a different outlook on Saturday's meet at the Widener Invitational in Chester, Pa. In a meet that included no team scoring, many Hopkins athletes had a chance to shine as individuals. The men's team recorded four top 10 finishes and four season best marks, while the women had eight top 10 finishes and five season best marks.

Sophomore Aline Bernard chopped nearly a half minute off the JHU record in the 10,000m, winning the event over a solid field of competitors. Bernard, running the slightly more than 6 mile distance in 38:38.60, toppled Tatiana Aguirre's 1992 mark of 39:24.80. Head Coach Bobby Van Allen remarked that Bernard is a "solid favorite" for Centennial Conference honors.

Junior Kathy Darling continued her winning ways with victories in the javelin and discus. Last week, Darling pummeled the competition at the Western Maryland meet by winning the javelin by 54 ft. and the discus by 45 ft. On wet grass and in near darkness, she easily won the javelin with a toss of 138A??,??,?11A??,?* on Friday night, then returned on Saturday to again smash her own Hopkins record in the Discus with 152'11" and claimed victory by more than 20 ft. She currently is ranked No. 4 in the nation among Division III Discus throwers and she is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation in the javelin. She remains undefeated in both her prime events. Darling will face her toughest competition this weekend at the Penn Relays.

In preparing for the Centennial Conference Championships the first weekend in May, Blue Jay athletes notched a slough of personal best performances.

"A couple top athletes are injured and others understand they must step up if the team is to perform well in the conference title meet," Van Allen explained.

Ben Stopper, Jesse Fulton and Dave Sebba, for example, all ran their fastest outdoor times of the year in the 400m, Stopper's 52.59 being the fastest of the group and the others within a second of that. Junior Nikki Gross lowered her 800m best to 2:24.31 and Alex Gochal won his 800m section in a best-ever 1:58.01.

"Alex ran a great race. Obviously the closely shaven legs made a big difference, and I was happy that the Mylanta worked its magic," commented Van Allen.

Freshman Hannah Bracken notched a personal record 61.84 400 meters, fourth-best ever at Hopkins and sophomore Megan Carr tied her best ever pole vault with 8'6" in fifth place. Brian Wolcott vaulted 13' for the men, Dan MacNeil shaved a few tenths off his 400m hurdles best time, and Joe Gentile and Kevin O'Connor both knocked several seconds off their best-ever 1500m times. Junior Hilary Knipe was fifth in the 5,000m run with her 19:32.2 time while freshman Tifany Miceli ran 1500m in 5:08.11 to lead another group of personal bests in that event as she was followed by teammates: Maureen Kimsey, Mary O, Jenn Schutz, Claire Gaden, Lisa Yagi and Nicole Laskowski. Almost all of the 1500m runners ran their best times of their career.

One of the most interesting events of the day was the women's 3,000m steeple chase wherein the athletes must negotiate 28 hurdles and 7 water jump hurdles over the slightly less than 2 mile distance. Sophomores Anna Stirgwolt and Rachel Killeen were up to the task and finished damp but happy.

"That was a lot of fun, since Coach told us to go out slow and run within ourselves," said Stirgwolt..

Neither athlete had much experience over hurdles and had never leaped a water jump. Van Allen explained that there is always some chance of injury in what is a new event on the Conference program this year.

"Everyone's first steeplechase is more about survival than anything else," Van Allen commented. "There is nothing else like it in track and the ladies did well. After two or three times through the water jump, it is a real test of intestinal fortitude."

Van Allen added that all of the coaches were extremely proud of the team this past weekend.

"We knew the competition was going to be pretty good at this meet, and our team rose to the challenge as over 20 athletes had their best performances of their life."

"This is by far the best team we have had in Hopkins history, and we are looking forward to a strong showing in our final couple weeks of the season."

The Jays will return to action at the Penn Relays, which will begin this Thursday and continue through Saturday.