The season may be young for the Johns Hopkins Men's and Women's Cross Country teams, but the future certainly looks bright. The Blue Jays' first challenge of the year was their season opener at the Baltimore Metro Invitational, hosted this year by Hopkins.
The men's squad proved a force to be reckoned with as they improved on last year's fourth-place finish with a second-place finish in this season's Invitational. The only team to place above Hopkins on the men's side was UMBC, who also took first for the women. Hopkins came in faster than Towson, Coppin State and Morgan State. Both Villa Julie and Goucher had incomplete finishes. The men's team also posted a good number of strong individual times, including two in the top ten.
The course, the Oregon Ridge Park, proved to be "hilly and challenging, [leading] to slower times ... but [Coach Van Allen's] emphasis on hill training during preseason seemed to have helped us out," according to sophomore Andrew Bauerschmidt. Times for both the men's and women's races are expected to improve greatly as the season progresses.
Sophomore Jason Farber achieved the fastest Blue Jay finish, clocking in at 29:43, just behind University of Maryland Baltimore County's Mike Brady. Farber's time placed him eighth overall. Farber commented that he "felt good going into this season ... and is looking forward to the team improving on what [they] had done last year." Farber also made note of the fact that Hopkins has quite a "young, but close, team."
Although the team does have upperclassmen runners, only sophomores and freshmen competed in the 8K Invitational. The top freshman finisher was Travis Koh with a time of 29:51, just behind Farber. Sophomores Gabe Tonkin and Bauerschmidt placed 11th and 13th, respectively coming in with official times of 30:05 and 30:12. Right on their heels was freshman Jason Chiang in 15th place (30:50). Rounding out the top six finishes for Hopkins was a 20th place finish for freshman Luke Marinaccif with a time of 31:06. The team hopes to improve as the season progresses and the entire squad races in coming competitions.
On the women's side, the Lady Jays had a solid finish, placing third out of seven teams competing. This turned out to be an impressive feat, especially considering that Hopkins was the one of a few D-III school competing amongst a field that included D-I teams. Their 85 points placed them ahead of Morgan State, Goucher and Coppin State. Villa Julie had an incomplete finish in the 5K race. The Jays finished behind UMBC and Towson University.
Hopkins had three strong top 20 finishes, led by senior Anna Stirgwolt, who finished 16th with a time of 21:06. Two seconds behind her was freshman teammate Jennifer Wakeman in 17th place. Rounding out the top three Blue Jays' times was sophomore Gloria Vasconrellos, with a time of 21:27, good for a 20th place finish.
In a preseason poll of coaches in the Centennial Conference, the men's team was predicted to finish the season sixth in the conference while the women are expected to take fifth place.
Their toughest competition looks to be Haverford for both squads, as the Fords are slated to take first in the conference on both the men's and women's sides.
The next race for both teams is the York Invitational, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 20.
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