W. Cross Country finishes fourth

In its last regular meet of the season, the Hopkins Women's Cross Country team stepped up its level of play, placing fourth in the Gettysburg Invitational last Saturday. This was the best finish for the women's team this season. Their 169 points placed them behind Loyola (32 points), second place Gettysburg (67 points) and third place Otterbein (93 points).

"We need to run in a strong pack, and utilize the strength of this team," said coach Van Allen. "We have one meet left before Conferences, and our women's team is going to correct this mistake when we run this weekend." The women certainly stepped up to the challenge at Gettysburg.

Leading the close pack of Lady Jays was freshman Jessica Lozier with a 21st place finish, earned by her 24:50 time. Close behind her was senior Anna Stirgwolt in 25th overall, recording a time of 25:02. Sophomore Gloria Vasconcellos came in two spots behind Stirgwolt with a time of 25:10.

"I was absolutely thrilled to watch the women run the way they did this past weekend," said Van Allen. "We talked about it every day since we left San Diego about running more as a team and in tighter packs, and that's exactly what we did. It was nice for us to finish so high (fourth place) in a field of 20 teams. If we stick to the same strategy at conferences, and run the way we are truly capable of doing, I think we could surprise a lot of teams."

The women hope to improve on their fifth place finish last year at the Centennial Conference Championships.

The men did not fare as well as a team. As sophomore Jason Farber explained, "the fact that we've had four different front runners in five races this season really says a lot about our team. We've got a really tight pack, which should help us out a lot at Conferences. This weekend, we didn't stick together enough and that was our ultimate downfall."

While individually the men performed well, their overall team place was a disappointing eleventh of twenty schools. Otterbein won the invitational with 60 points, just edging out second place Wheeling-Jesuit University which had 65 points. Alderson-Broaddus finished third with 98 points. Hopkins scored 308 points placing them three spots behind conference rival Gettysburg. Loyola was beat out by Gettysburg by one spot.

Freshman Travis Koh was the first Hopkins runner to finish the 8K race. His time of 27:59 was good for a 39th place finish. Sophomore Gabe Tonkin finished 49th overall with a time of 28:16.

Sophomore Andrew Bauerschmidt tied his personal record of 28:37, which he set last week in San Diego, earning himself a 70th place finish. "While individually we ran well at Gettysburg, as a team we had a tough time. The terrain didn't help any either" said Bauerschmidt. Behind him was Farber in 74th place with a time of 28:41. The team is optimistic about the upcoming conference championships, working to place better than last year's fourth place finish.

"Although there were some guys that stepped it up at Gettysburg, overall as a team I was very disappointed," said Van Allen. "The men's team has so much character on it, that I am completely confident that we will rebound for conferences and have a stellar performance." The men and women's Cross Country teams will both compete in the Centennial Conference Championships held on Nov. 1.