Over the course of this past weekend, the Hopkins men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Penn State and University of Delaware to compete in the Penn State National Invitational and the Delaware Thomson Invitational. Throughout the course of these two tournaments, several individual records were broken.
In addition, multiple Centennial Conference records were shattered, as both teams established themselves as strong competitors early on the Invitational. The track and field squads displayed signs of greatness and will look to continue their accomplishments this weekend heading into the heart of their regular season against other Centennial Conference opponents.
On the men’s track team, several individuals ran extremely well in both the Penn State and Thomson Invitational meets. Junior Max Robinson set the Hopkins school record this weekend, posting an astonishing 14:47 time in the 5,000-meter. His time not only shattered the previous Hopkins indoor track record, but also marked a career best for Robinson.
The highlights, however, didn’t stop with Robinson as several members of the team went on to set their own career bests. Junior Wes Butler ran an impressive 4:24.04 in the indoor mile, which nearly marked a career best. Other notable accomplishments from the Penn State Invite were clocked in the 3,000-meter run as sophomore Julian Saliani and freshman Schaffer Ochstein ran times of 8:40.77 and 8:47.80 respectively.
“The Penn State meet allowed us to run on a fast track against some very strong competition and has helped start to prepare for our upcoming meets,” Robinson said.
The Thomson Invitational yielded similar results for the Blue Jays as they built off of their momentum from Saturday’s performance.
The day started off strong as junior Jonathan Hickman threw his season-best in the shot put competition, posting an impressive 40 feet 1.5 inches. Junior Sam Cook also achieved his personal and season best at Thomson in the shot put event, posting a toss of 38 feet 11.75 inches. Freshman Adrian Stelmach ran a career-best 9.07 seconds in the 60 meter hurdles, sophomore Ryan Walsh placed third overall in the high jump with a jump of 6 feet, 4 inches, and sophomore Paul Vozzo finished fourth overall in the pole vault competition, while posting a season-best vault of 13 feet, 11.25 inches.
“I would say overall the performances were solid,” Robinson said. “But I also think it showed us that there’s still work to be done if we want to score big at conferences.”
The Blue Jays will look to improve upon this weekend’s success when they head into the Seamus McElliot Invitation and the Armory Collegiate Invitational this upcoming weekend.
The Hopkins women’s track and field team also competed at the Penn State National Invitational and Delaware Thomson Invitational this weekend while posting some significant records of their own.
Freshman Hannah Oneda continued her dominance in the Hopkins running program after having a very successful fall in cross country by finishing seventh overall in the elite invitational race at Penn State.
She shattered the previous Centennial Conference record with an astounding time of 9:34.95, clocking the most impressive and fastest Division III time since 2004. She posted the sixth fastest 3,000 meter run time in Division III history while outrunning competitors from Villanova, Syracuse, Georgetown, and Penn State.
Senior Annie Monagle also posted very respectable numbers at the Penn State Invitational as she performed admirably in the 800 meter run, finishing in fifth place overall with a time of 2:15.46. Not only was this one of the most successful runs of her career, but also the fifth fastest time in the 800 meter run in all of Division III this season.
Along with Monagle’s achievements, freshman Megan McDonald became the first freshman in Hopkins track and field history to break 60 seconds in the 400 meter event, edging out all previous records with a time of 59.81 seconds. Oneda’s performance, coupled with McDonald and Monagle’s runs, marked the highlights of the Penn State Invitational for the Blue Jays.
At the Thomson Invitational on Sunday, the team looked to continue their streak of success and went on to set more school and season records.
The day started off very well for senior Emily Kashka as she achieved her season best with a pole vault of 9 feet, 10 inches.
Meanwhile, fellow teammate junior Emily Swenson tied a previous Hopkins record in the 60-meter hurdle by placing fifth overall in the competition with a time of 9.53 seconds.
The Lady Jays will travel to the Seamus McElliot Invitational and the Armory Collegiate Invitational next weekend with the men’s team.
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