A month ago, it would have been tough to imagine Steve Tobochnik running in a meet for Hopkins, let alone leading the Jays to a team award in the biggest race of the season to date. Sidelined with a nagging Achilles tendon injury he suffered during the summer, the men’s cross country captain had not seen a course through the team’s first two meets.
A few weeks later though, Tobochnik is The News-Letter’s Athlete of the Week after finishing 19th overall and first for the Blue Jays with a time of 25:46.20 at the Disney Classic in Orlando, Florida.
As the Jays began their season with local meets in Timonium and Annapolis, Maryland, Tobochnik, who stands at 5’8 125 pounds, looked on dreaming of his return.
“It was tough,” he said, “but at the same time, it was early in the season and I had long-term goals in mind. I could better help the team by not pushing my recovery and getting back into shape for later in the season.”
After getting a taste of the national stage a season ago when Tobochnik qualified for the NCAA tournament, he understood what it would take to bounce back from an injury to meet the goals he had set for himself and the team.
“It’s always difficult to come back after long periods off of running, but I did a lot of cross-training and was really motivated going into my senior year,” he said.
His senior year finally got started on September 25th, over three weeks since the Jays’ opening meet, with one goal in mind.
“My goals for senior year are similar to the ones I had last year — to qualify and compete at Nationals, preferably as an entire team. So far my season has been great, and we are in a good position to accomplish our team goals.”
In his first race of the season, Tobochnik finished 28th overall, good for first place amongst Hopkins runners with a time of 27:10, leading the Blue Jays to an eighth place finish at the Williams Invitational.
With a race under his belt, the Blue Jays travelled to Disney World this past weekend to compete in Orlando for the first time in two years. The senior from Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan was in top shape once again.
In a diverse field that featured Division 1, 2, and 3 teams from all over the country and Canada like Windsor, Canada’s top-ranked team, Embry-Riddle (Florida) and Houston, Tobochnik paced the Blue Jays to third place, finishing number-one on the team for the second straight week. He was hardly alone at the finish-line, though, as the Blue Jays’ top five runners all finished within 22 seconds of each other.
“I am glad to be back racing at near top form again,” he said, “but this year we have our entire varsity squad running close together as a tight pack, and it’s great to work together with my teammates throughout races and to all finish near each other.”
Tobochnik’s game plan going into the meet was what he credited for his second straight solid performance.
“This year I've been working on racing the first two miles conservatively, and really pushing it the last three miles for a strong finish,” he said. “I feel like I did this very well at Disney, and I feel confident in my racing strategies for more important races, such as Conferences and Regionals.”
With the Centennial Conference Championships looming just weeks away, Hopkins and Tobochnik will travel to Gettysburg next weekend for their final tune-up.
“Our team has every intention of winning this meet by a large margin and putting us in a good position for a top finish at Regionals and for earning an at-large bid to Nationals,” Tobochnik said. “We have a team with more depth than any other team at the Gettysburg meet, and we are all motivated and excited as we move into the post-season.”
If Steve Tobochnik has anything to say about it, the Jays will continue their winning ways.
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