This past weekend, the Hopkins men’s and women’s track and field squads travelled to Haverford, Pennsylvania to compete in the Centennial Conference Championships.
The women’s team, which has finished second behind Haverford the past four years, finally escaped the Fords shadow this year on the backs of several key contributors to win the school’s first ever indoor-track championship.
The men’s team finished fourth behind Haverford, Ursinus and Muhlenberg, but they too had many solid events.
Late in the competition, the Jays looked bound for yet another second-place finish behind Haverford. Despite The News-Letter’s Athlete of the Week senior Christina Valerio’s victories in the 3000- and 5000-meter races, sophomore Alana Merkow’s individual title in the shotput, and senior Logan Ashcraft’s second-place finish in the pole vault, Hopkins’s fate would rest in a pair long jumpers.
Sophomore Kristen Spera was the day’s clutch performer as she jumped well over 16 feet to leap-frog three competitors and go from fourth to third and win the long jump. Thanks to Spera and fellow sophomore Laura Bartos’s seventh place finish, the Jays were able to take the crown after a third place finish in the 4x400 meter relay.
The men were led by freshman Alex Jebb’s third place finish in the triple jump, freshman David O’Neil’s bronze in the long jump, and the distance medley team consisting of freshmen Andrew Minnicucci and Steve Hyland, sophomore Ben Press and senior Brandon Hahn.
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