Cross country keeps pace against tough teams

For most programs, following up an impressive showing at the Baltimore Metro Invitational with yet another good run would be a difficult task.  But for the Johns Hopkins men’s and women’s cross country teams, it’s the norm.

The men won their seventh and the women their third consecutive titles in Timonium, Maryland two weeks ago by placing eight men in the top nine and four women in the top five overall. Sophomore Nick Kisley and junior Cecilia Furlong led their respective teams. The two groups put on another first-rate performance this weekend in Annapolis.

The Salty Dog Invitational, which was hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy, is typically one of Hopkins’ toughest meets.  This year, the Blue Jays were the only Division-3 school in the women’s race and just one of two — joined by Elizabethtown — in the men’s meet. The BMI meet featured opponents like McDaniel and Morgan State, and this event consisted of bigger Division-1 schools like Navy, Maryland, Georgetown, and Louisville.

The men, who are currently ranked seventh in the Mideast Region, finished ninth in the event just behind Mt. St. Mary’s and George Washington.  For first place, Navy edged out Louisville for the team title and Andrew Hanko of Navy took home the individual crown.

Statistically speaking, the race was not one of Hopkins’ best: the Jays failed to place anyone within the top fifty runners.

There were still several encouraging signs to take away from the meet, however.

In a longer race than the 5K they had run two weeks prior, Hopkins saw freshman Julian Saliani emerge as the team leader, placing 52nd with a time of 26:32.72.

Another freshman, Josh Kays, finished about a minute later, good for 71st overall; also finishing in the team’s top five were seniors Derek Cheng and Brandon Hahn and junior Andrew Yen.

Heading into one of the year’s biggest meets next weekend at Williams College, the Blue Jays should be pleased to see the consistency shown by the young Saliani, as well as Hahn and Yen, after finishing in the team’s top five for the second consecutive meet.

The Jays missed Nick Kisley this past weekend, who rolled his ankle after finishing second overall in the Baltimore Metro Invitational, but expect him back and ready to go for the upcoming meet.

The women, who are ranked eighth nationally, had better luck in Annapolis, finishing fourth, just two points behind Navy and three behind Malone University.

Racing against Division-1 competition is not foreign ground for Hopkins, and the women knew what they needed to do to stay in the pack.

“Going into the Navy meet, we knew we could run with all of the teams in the meet,” said junior Cecilia Furlong, who led the Lady Jays with a time of 22:54.10, good for eighth overall.

“Our plan was to form packs and sit on the leaders,” she said, “and I think overall we did a good job of sticking to this.”

Furlong, who put together an excellent race two weeks ago for first place in the Baltimore Metro Invitational, was one of four Jays to finish in the event’s top twenty. She was quickly followed by freshman Lara Shegoski, senior Megan Brower, and sophomore Liz Provost who all finished in the top five in their last meet.

“Lara [Shegoski] and Megan [Brower] did a great job of working together with Liz Provost right behind them, and I think it says a lot about the talent and depth our team has that we were able to place four runners in the top twenty against strong Division 1 competition,” Furlong said. “Everyone was aggressive from the beginning of the race, and keeping this up throughout the rest of the season is going to be crucial for our success at the regional and national levels come November.”

The rest of the season begins this Saturday with two events for both the men and the women. The Jays will send their top seven to ten runners north to Williamstown, Massachusetts for a critical Division-3 showdown and will keep the rest of their runners in Baltimore to race at the Towson Invitational.

Furlong, who has been her team’s top runner thus far, is looking forward to seeing how the Jays can fare against some of the nation’s best squads.

“This weekend is going to be a huge meet for us, running against some of the top Division III schools in the nation, and we’re really looking to build off the success of our first two meets and continue to race smarter,” she said.

The next big meet is this Saturday in Williamstown, Mass.