Several members of Hopkins's men's and women's track teams competed last weekend at Virginia Tech's Last Chance meet on Saturday, giving them a last chance to qualify for nationals. The Blue Jays competed in a field loaded with Division I and Division III schools and broke several of the school records that they themselves had set this past season.
On the men's side of the action, senior Adam Waddell continued his outstanding performance in the pole vault, building off of his momentum in last week's Centennial Conference Championship, in which he placed first in the event. Waddell broke his own previous Hopkins record of 15 feet in the vault by vaulting 15' 3-3/4" in a strong effort.
"The atmosphere at the Virginia Tech meet was incredible," Waddell said. "Everyone really stepped up their games to compete at such a high level of intensity. It was awesome to watch my fellow teammates, Paula Osborn and Jordan Ireton, not only smash personal bests but also crush Hopkins track records in the process. Overall, it was a great meet."
Senior Jordan Ireton shattered her own previous Hopkins record in the 800-meter run with a spectacular time of 2:13.70, qualifying for NCAA nationals. The time was nearly four seconds better than her previous record of 2:17.38, and the only three runners who finished ahead of her were from Division I schools Tennessee, Central Florida and Virginia Tech. Ireton was pleasantly surprised to find that she had done so well, but knew that she was capable of such a performance.
"I really enjoyed the meet. It was a surprisingly relaxed meet, and at the same time I was able to run alongside Division I runners on a great banked track," Ireton said. "When I crossed the line and saw that I had run a 2:13, I was pretty shocked. But in retrospect, I know that I was ready to run that fast. It was just a matter of finding the right competition and the right race. I'm still excited about it. I'm looking forward to nationals and the outdoor season."
The other broken record came from senior Paula Osborn. Osborn, last week's News-Letter Athlete of the Week, ran in the 400-meter, clocking in a time of 58.40, good for the school record but falling just short of an NCAA-qualifying time by only a 10th of a second. Osborn, who will compete at nationals in the distance medley relay, was not disappointed but rather was very pleased and optimistic.
"It was the seniors' last individual indoor track meet, so we really wanted to step it up," Osborn said. "It was a really great track with good competition, so we were all ready to perform our best. I ran the 400m dash knowing that it was my last individual race indoors and didn't hold anything back. I was so surprised and pleased to run a 58.4, [and] even though it was .1 off of qualifying for nationals, it is a personal record, and [I'm] really excited for the outdoor season. Jordan Ireton running a 2.13 in the 800 is absolutely amazing as well. Now we head to nationals at the end of this week, with almost all of the girls in our distance medley relay having qualified for nationals in their individual events. Needless to say, we are going in hopes to bring back gold in the relay," she said.
As Osborn makes clear, there is much to be excited about for Hopkins track, and the season has been highly successful. "The season has really been more than I could have hoped for. We started with a very strong cross-country season, and the girls kept performing well throughout the indoor season as well. Now that it is coming to an end we have more people qualified for nationals than we ever have. We have broken almost every school record on the board this year, and we are hoping to bring home some All-Americans from nationals as well.
"Our coach has really pushed us this season, and the team as a whole has come together and are very supportive of one another. I know that our success will undoubtedly continue into the outdoor season that begins when we return from spring break."
