Cross Country sweeps the board

By LUCAS BEDNAREK

Blue Jay cross country delivered a pair of sweeps on Saturday when both the men’s and women’s teams’ first five runners finished with perfect scores. However, the sweep didn’t stop with the scores.

In the men’s race Hopkins swept the first 10 and accounted for 18 of the first 19 finishers; in the women’s, nine of the first 11 finishers were Hopkins runners.

While both teams certainly regard this as quite an accomplishment, they realize that as the season progresses, not every race will see such an emphatic Hopkins victory. They are remaining focused on their upcoming, more competitive races.

For the women’s team, this means another national title. To gauge the team’s readiness to repeat this feat, Saturday’s race didn’t feature as challenging a collection of competitors that they will face deeper into the season. However, their schedule will soon become more testing.

“We have a few big meets in a row so I think they’re really going to be telling for us,” senior captain Jordan Delane said.

Having won nationals the past three years, there is pressure on returning members of the team to repeat once again.

However, this pressure is being relieved by a fast group of new runners.

“We’ve won the national championship the past three years so there’s definitely pressure coming back in. We obviously want to win again and be the No. 1 but I think the younger girls are definitely stepping up also,” senior captain Jordan Delane said.

Perhaps just as important to the team’s success, however, is the building of a strong “close-knit” dynamic, which is a priority for the team. “Everyone always has each other’s back and I think we’re always looking to keep that up,” senior captain Courtney Kelly said.

The men’s team seems to be looking toward the Conference Championship, which will by hosted by Hopkins at this same course. In that regard, Saturday’s race served as an introduction to racing the course for Hopkins runners.

“It’s definitely the least competitive meet that we’ll run this year, but it’s the course that we’ll be racing our most important race,” senior captain Billy Scola said. 

Scola, like the rest of the men’s team, has his sights set on a conference title and more. “Once we accomplish our primary goal of winning the Conference Championship, we’d like to be able to have a top 10 finish at Nationals,” Scola said.

The team’s performance on Saturday brought to light some of the team’s strengths. One of these is the speedy new freshman class, which has impressed captains.

“They’re great,” Scola said. “They had a few in the top 10 and our No. 2 runner was a freshman.” 

With leadership from returning upperclassmen, this class shows even more potential.  “They always have a lot to prove, but we’ve done a great job as a team to get them prepared,” Scola said. “I expect a lot from them.”

In addition to the new runners, returning seniors have inherited duties to carry the team.

“We had a disappointing end to our season last year so there’s a lot of pressure on us to bring the experience, so that we can succeed both on the conference level and national level,” Scola said.

Another encouraging aspect from Saturday is a winning performance by senior Schaffer Ochstein. Ochstein’s return to consistency as the team’s top runner could be beneficial for the Hopkins men this year, according to Scola.

“He’s been one of our best runners since he got here as a freshman,” Scola said.  Scola said that Ochstein struggled with injury last year.

“He came back this season and was in great shape and it was great to see him be our top guy once again,” Scola said.

While the weather at the Conference Championship is still uncertain, he men’s team already got to run the course in non-ideal conditions.

“For our race, it was pouring the whole time,” Scola said. “There were a few hard turns, but it made it an interesting experience to run in the rain.”

After seeing such a dominant effort from Hopkins, Scola believes that this year holds potential.

“I’m pretty confident that we have what we need to be the top team in the conference and region,” Scola said.