The Hopkins Outdoor Track and Field teams had stellar performances at the Messiah Multi-Meet held in Grantham, Pa. on April 7. The men's team finished second out of six competing schools, earning 146 points. The women's team placed third with a total of 103 points.
Freshman Jason Dubyoski, who set a freshman record at last week's Terrapin Invitational in the 400-meter hurdle event, continued to outdo himself while again posting a freshman record; this time in the decathlon. Dubyoski finished second in the event with 4906 points. Sophomore David Dierker placed third with 4120 points. "Even though he's just a freshman, Jason has great potential to help the team, especially at conferences," said head coach Bobby Van Allen.
The men's pole vault squad also performed well, as each vaulter placed in the top four. Freshman John Criezis and junior Pete Dixon tied for second in the event, vaulting 11'6", while sophomore Ted Esborn finished fourth. "It felt good to be outside jumping again," said Dixon, who is back jumping after an injury that kept him out of the event in previous meets. "John, Ted and I have been working well together. We are looking forward to scoring some points for the team at conferences."
Sophomore Andrew Bauerschmidt won the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:20.23, while freshman Jason Chiang closelyfollowed Bauerschmidt for a second place finish with a time of 4:23.52. Sophomore Tia Kobayashi won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:00.69. Senior Justin Leck rounded out the Hopkins men's event winners by placing first in the javelin with a throw of 155'5".
Freshman Tim Pruiett finished second in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.83. Sophomore Shane Olaleye had a third place finish in the 800-meters with a time of 2:05.79. Sophomore Jason Farber placed third in the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:25.64. Freshmen Arun Jose and Pruiett each finished third in their events: the long jump and the triple jump, respectively.
For the women's team, sophomore Nancy Yu won the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.36. Yu also placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 18.59. Also winning her event was sophomore Liz Krimmel, who threw 98'8" in the javelin.
Senior Megan Carr finished second in the pole vault by clearing a height of 9'6". Carr set the school record in the event last week when she cleared the same height at the Terrapin Invitational.
Sophomore Hannah Bracken finished third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:04.56. Freshman Megan Clarke placed third in the 800-meter run, with a time of 2:36.55 and classmate Kaitlin Flynn finished third in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:14.29. Sophomore Joanna Cohen placed third in the long jump event.
Each of the women's relays, the 4x100 meter and the 4x400 meter, earned second place finishes with times of 53.48 and 4:25.98 respectively.
"This season the outdoor team has a little more depth than we did during the indoor season. With events like the 400-meter hurdles, the steeple chase, and the discus, we have a lot more opportunities to show our competitiveness," said Van Allen. "Each season this year has given the freshmen and sophomores, who make up the majority of the team, the opportunity to mature."
The Jays have been extremely motivated this season, after their poor performance at the Indoor conference championships last season. "We had a pretty weak finish to the last season, and I think everybody has been using that as motivation to be more competitive for outdoor conferences," said junior distance runner Eric Scrivner. "As long as we don't suffer any more injuries, we should have a much stronger finish to the outdoor season than we did at the end of indoor."
The Blue Jays return to action this weekend at the Widener Invitational in Chester, Pennsylvania. "If it's like last year, there will be quite a few of the other conference schools competing at Widener; hopefully we'll make a good showing," said Scrivner.
