Three women represented the Johns Hopkins Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field team at the prestigious Valentine/FasTrack Invitational, which took place this past weekend at Boston University.
Senior captain Aline Bernard and junior captain Andrea King, along with sophomore Katie Finnigan, were the only three chosen to represent the Blue Jays at the meet. Head coach Bobby Van Allen thought this trio would benefit most from facing the staunch competition at the meet.
"The Valentine Invitational consisted of some of the best girls in the nation, including some Olympic hopefuls,"said Van Allen. "Aline, Andrea and Katie have been performing at a level that was appropriate for this meet, so I wanted to give them the opportunity to compete against some of the best athletes in their respective events."
Finnigan, who is currently leading the conference in the triple jump event, jumped over 34' at the Invitational.
"Katie Finnigan in her first year at Hopkins has done extraordinarily well,"said Van Allen of the steadily-improving Finnigan. "She is leading the conference in the triple jump and is probably contending for the conference title in the high jump."
At her previous meet, the Frank Colden Invitational, which was held on Feb. 7 at Ursinus, Finnigan broke her own indoor record for the high jump when she cleared 5'2. Although she was unable to repeat that jump, Finnigan still did extremely well with a jump of 5'5.
"She [Finnigan] has great work ethics and has a good chance of becoming an All-American while at Hopkins," said Van Allen.
In the 3000-meter run, Bernard improved her previous best time of 10:59 by sixteen seconds, finishing with a time of 10:43. Bernard now ranks in the top five in the conference in both the 3K and the 5K runs.
"Aline Bernard has been outstanding this year,"said Van Allen. "Plagued with an injury last year, she has worked back to her old form and should be one of the top runners in the conference by the end of this year."
In the shot put event, King registered a throw of 10.3 meters -- a respectable performance but still a disappointment for King. Earlier in the season, King broke her school record of 11.37 meters with a throw of 11.95 meters.
Although the Invitational was just for women, a men's meet was scheduled for the following day.
According to Van Allen, there was more depth on the Hopkins men's side this year. Nevertheless, he did not elect to send any of the men to Boston.
"[We have] some good people up top, too, who I considered having compete in Boston. But for different reasons, I didn't," he said.
One of the men's team's greatest assets is senior Alex Gochal, who has been out for the past few meets due to an injury. It is uncertain at this point as to whether Gochal will be able to compete in the Centennial Conference Championships.
The Blue Jays are looking to make their final push for the most important meet of the season, the Conference Championships, which takes place at Haverford College on Feb. 28 and 29.
Not only are Bernard, King and Finnigan expected to place high, but freshman Megan Clarke and sophomore Hannah Bracken are both capable of not only jumping into the top ten in the conference but possibly making it to the top three or four. Van Allen believes they are starting to come around nicely, and if they drop two seconds off of their time, they'll be right there. He also believes sophomore Joanna Cohen could be a surprisingly high finisher at conferences as well. Cohen will compete in the 55-meter dash and long jump.
The men's team has some surprises up its sleeve as well. A pair of high jumpers --sophomores Tai Kobayashi and Nick Culbertson -- and freshmen Matt Smith have all performed extremely well this year and are looking to be in the top five of the conference. Sophomore Shane Olaleye, who competes in the 400-meter dash, is looking for a top three finish.
"The men's team will be a little more focused on our relays as well, which we will try to stack as much as possible," said Van Allen.
Upfront, the Blue Jays have individuals who are expected to score very high. However, the Jays lack the depth compared to some of the Centennial competitors. Although this may hurt the team in the end, this year's team has the potential of being ranked in the top five -- something the women's team has yet to do.
