Hopkins' otherwise highly successful cross country season met its first setback at the George Washington Invitational in Bull Run Park this past weekend. There, the level of competition Hopkins faced was much higher than it has been up to this point, leaving the Jays surrounded by a plethora of D-I schools.
Among these schools were Georgetown University, which won the Women's 5K, and William and Mary, which took the Men's 8K.
Of the 14 schools competing, the Blue Jays only managed to take home an 11th place finish for the men. The women, however, finished in eighth place, narrowly beating out George Mason, 243 to 246.
The top male finishers for Hopkins were sophomore Jason Farber, who clocked in at 29:33, good for 81st place overall, and his freshmen teammates Travis Koh and Jason Chiang, whose times of 29:43 and 29:45 earned them 87th and 89th place finishes, respectively.
For the women, senior Anna Strigwolt continued her consistent pattern of squad leadership with a time of 20:53, earning her a 43rd place finish. Freshman Jenni Wakeman finished 53rd with a time of 21:39 and sophomore Gloria Vasconcellos finished behind Wakeman in 65th place with a time of 21:40.
The York College meet proved to be a stronger meet for the Blue Jays then the GW Invitational. Both the men and women's teams participated in York, Pennsylvania on September 20th and came out on top in each of their dual events. The men finished the first meet with a perfect score of 15 points over York's 41 points. Catholic, also receiving 41 points, likewise fell to the Jays, with Hopkins earning a score of 19.
"We took the race out conservatively, like [Coach Van Allen] said to, then we picked up the pace and burned the competition," said sophomore Gabe Tonkin.
The women had an almost perfect score, as they defeated York 16-47. Catholic's 41 points didn't come close to their 20 point finish, giving the Lady Jays their second win of the day. The women claimed seven of the top ten spots in their 5K race, while the men posted five of the top six times in their 8K competition.
"They did a great job and looked good doing it," commented freshman Luke Marinacci.
Hopkins dominated the men's race, and were led by sophomore Nick Sousa, who finished first overall in the meet. His time of 27:41 placed him a good distance ahead of the next finisher, Catholic's Mike Audette, who had a time of 27:52.
The next four finishes were claimed by Hopkins. Tonkin recorded a third place finish in 29 minutes even, followed by sophomore Andrew Bauerschmidt and Farber in fourth and fifth place with times of 29:10 and 29:11 respectively.
After his impressive race, Farber commented, "We ran really well as a team and pushed each other...After getting second place in our first meet and winning this one, this has been a very auspicious start to the season."
Chiang finished with a time of 29:22, earning him a sixth place finish overall, which rounded out the top five finishers for Hopkins.
On the women's side, Hopkins also had a strong finish, allowing only one runner from York and two from Catholic into the top ten. Stirgwolt posted the best Blue Jay time of 20:49, placing her second overall to Catholic's Rachel Yates. Yates' time was 19:57 for the 5K race.
Right on Stirgwolt's heels were freshmen teammates Jessie Lozier and Wakeman whose 21:22 and 21:25 finishes earned them third and fourth places, respectively. Vasconcellos recorded a fifth place mark with a time of 21:36.
Junior Anna Russell completed the race with a time of 22 minutes even, giving her a seventh place finish.
Hopkins also posted the ninth and tenth place finishes for the women: junior Maureen Kimsey with a 22:18 finish and senior Laura Vernikoff a second behind her.
"It was a solid effort by every member of the team," sophomore Liz Krimmel commented. "To have every girl finish in the top 20 says a lot about the training we've put in."
The season is far from over for the Blue Jays. They will compete in three more races before the Centennial Conference Championships the first weekend in November.
