C. Country improves in Centennial tourney

Last weekend it wasn't hanging branches, injuries or even Division I competition that faced the Men's and Women's Cross Country team, it was the entire Centennial Conference and a muddy course which crossed a creek three times.

According to Freshman Gabe Tonkin, "the first place guy finished two and a half minutes slower than he would have on a normal course."

Nonetheless, the Blue Jays pulled out an impressive finish. The men's team earned fourth place while the women's team placed fifth.

For the men's squad, this was second highest finish in Hopkins history. Both the men's and women's teams experienced a two spot increase from last year.

The women's team proved that they deserve to be in the top half of their conference.

According to Coach Van Allen, "We still have a very young team on the women's side, as many of them experienced their first conference championship."

The top finisher for the women was Hilary Knipe in ninth overall with a time of 24:34.12.

She was followed by a solid pack made up by Emily Chisholm, Maureen Kimsey and Anna Stirgwolt. All were in the top 40.

Van Allen was optimistic about their future performances, saying "I'm very impressed with all three of them and know that they will continue to improve throughout the years."

According to Van Allen, "Senior Hilary Knipe ran one of her best races of the year. Hilary finished ninth overall and was just seconds out of finishing sixth. With one of the top women's conferences in the entire nation, Hilary proved that she is one of the best. Running right with, or even beating girls that have been All Americans numerous times should be an accomplishment that Hilary is truly proud of. She worked extremely hard from day one for this, and was able to reap the benefits in the end."

"Most notable on the women's side was the improvement of sophomore Maureen Kimsey, who was our second overall girl on Saturday," continued Van Allen. "Maureen has improved by leaps and bounds from her freshman year and should be one of the leaders on our team in the next several years."

As for the men, the top finisher was Steven Chu in 13th (of 92 runners) with a time of 28:23.71. Nick Sousa (18th), John Onofrey (20th), Gabe Tonkin and Jaime Parks rounded out the top five finishers for Hopkins.

Onofrey commented, "We showed that we have a really strong team with other guys that can step it up and lead the team. I think we really proved to the rest of the conference that we actually are a solid team."

Van Allen stated, "It was the first time that we have beaten Gettysburg and Swarthmore this year, so it was a tremendous accomplishment for the men. We proved that we are a team to be taken seriously and I think we would only improve in the conference standings with each passing year."

Both Onofrey and Knipe were named All Conference Runners. Knipe was the first Lady Jay to earn the prestigious title in three years.

In less than two weeks, the Blue Jays will head to Salisbury, Maryland to compete in the NCAA Regional Championship. This competition will be the deciding factor for qualification for nationals. This extremely competitive event will feature 40 teams. Hopkins is hoping to finish among the top 10 schools.

According to Knipe, "the course is as flat as a pancake. We should be able to take some chances and set some record times."

While both men's and women's teams may be a long shot for qualifying, top runners Knipe and Onofrey have the potential to qualify as individuals.

"It's something worth shooting for," stated Knipe. Only the top two women's teams and top three men's teams make it to nationals. The NCAA takes an additional seven individual women and eight individual men. Nationals will be held in Minnesota at the end of November.

Van Allen stated, "Seniors John Onofrey and Hilary Knipe both have a chance of ? qualifying individually for the NCAA Cross Country championships. They both have seen throughout the year that they are among the top runners in the region. It will be tough, but it will be a remarkable feat if they accomplish it." Onofrey commented, "We deserve our ranking of eight in the Region, but I think we have the possibility of finishing even higher and surprising some more teams.