The Hopkins men’s and women’s track & field teams competed this past weekend in both the Penn Relays and the Shippensburg Invitational events. On Friday, the team sent runners to Philadelphia, PA for the prestigious Penn Relays, before joining the rest of the team in Shipensburg, PA on Saturday for the Invitationl. Athletes on both the men’s and women’s teams set personal and school records throughout the road trip.
On the men’s side, sophomore Max Robinson set the tone for the weekend. At the Penn Relays, Robinson set a school record in the 10,000 meter run. Recording a time of 31:06 with a 67 second last 400-meter split, Robinson impressively finished each mile just under 5:00.
The women’s team would not be overshadowed by Robinson’s performance, as freshman Hannah Eckstein set a school and conference record in the 5,000 meter run. Eckstein ran a 5:26 first mile and continued to take seventh place with a time of 16:50.64, breaking the school and conference record by a tenth of a second. Sophomore Holly Clarke also competed in the 5,000 meter run and finished just behind Eckstein with a time of 16:57.
But the PRs didn’t stop there; there was one more event at the Penn Relays in which Blue Jay runners had yet to compete. The 4x400 meter women’s relay team of senior Alison Smith, junior Leah Sibener, freshman Ingrid Johnson, and junior Annie Monagle took first place in the College Women’s 4x400 Centennial/MAC section for the first time in Blue Jays history. A time of 3:58.98 was the first sub 4:00 time of the season for Hopkins and earned the lady jays first place in a relay event for the first time this season.
The remainder of the Blue Jays traveled to Shippensburg, PA for the Shippensburg Invitational and a final tune up before the Centennial Conference Championship this coming weekend. On a cold and cloudy day, Hopkins’ men’s team struggled to make its presence known at the event. Freshman Alexander Naticchia took third place in the 100-meter dash recording a time of 11.21 seconds. Naticchia has consistently proved to be a top performer at Hopkins’ events this season.
He is currently third in the Centennial Conference for the 100-meter dash, third in the 200-meter, and second in the long jump. Senior co-captain Luke Sand, who has suffered from a hand injury for much of the season, placed third in the discus with a season best throw of 46.51 meters. This was the best performance of any Division III athlete competing.
For the women’s team, several athletes advanced their conference rankings. Senior Stephanie Amalfe finished second overall in the discus and took first place amongst Centennial Conference participants. Alison Smith sprinted to a season best 12.75 in the 100-meter dash, and continued to run the 400-meter relay with teammates freshman Kelley Hussey, Sibener, and sophomore Chloe Ryan for a time of 50.23. Smith ranks second in the conference in the 100-meter dash and third in the 200-meter heading into the conference championship.
The action will continue this coming weekend, as the Centennial Conference Championships will be held at Ursinus College.
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