This past weekend, both the men’s and women’s track and field teams brought home Centennial Conference titles from competitions hosted by Ursinus College in Collegetown, Pa. While the Jays came out on top, the Haverford College Fords did offer some competition. Along with the team titles, the Jays saw many record-breaking individual performances during the two-day event.
The women easily secured their seventh straight Conference title with 203 points, followed by second-place Haverford with just 120.3 points. The team was led by senior captain Megan McDonald who competed in the 400 meter.
“The competition was not very tough,” McDonald said. “I was really racing for time.”
Racing the clock, McDonald crossed the line in 58.25 seconds for a win and a meet record. McDonald now holds the fastest 400 meter time in the Conference this season. Hoping to continue her success on the post season, McDonald will race at Tufts University this Friday, March 4 where she will need to run just over half a second faster to qualify for nationals.
Junior Tess Meehan also had impressive performances to help the team score. Meehan finished third in the mile run with a time of 5:03, followed closely by her two teammates, sophomore Caroline Smith and freshman Felicia Koerner. They finished fourth and fifth, respectively, clocking times of 5:07 and 5:09. Meehan also raced in the 3000 meter where the Lady Jays swept the top three spots in the event. She won the race in 10:05 and was again followed closely by her teammates. Just seconds behind, senior Jordan Delane finished in second and senior Hannah Oneda in third.
Also putting up points for the women was sophomore Jenn Su. Just shy of breaking the meet record in the pentathlon, Su won the event to gain 10 points for the Jays. The next day, she continued her success placing second in the 60 meter hurdles and third in the long jump.
For the men’s team, however, the win did not come as easily. With only 11 points separating them from second place Haverford, the men were just able to grasp their fifth straight centennial Conference title. The Jays came out victorious largely thanks to senior Devin Conely. Not only did he win the heptathlon, but Conely also set a new Centennial Conference record in the event. His success did not stop there as the senior continued on to finish fourth in the high jump, third in the long jump and third in the pole vault.
The men also had an impressive finish in the 800 meter run. The Jays swept third, fourth and fifth place, led by senior Trevor Holmgren who crossed the line in 1:56.18. He was followed by freshman Dominic Yared and senior Sam Gottuso.
Junior Andrew Bartnett, who currently holds the Conference record, won the pole vault with a record height.
“Every year at Conferences we have a high concentration of Hopkins vaulters in the top eight at Conferences,” Bartnett said, “This year was no different, as we scored a total of 31 team points in the vault.”
Led by Bartnett, the Jays swept the top three places in the event. He is looking to continue his success in the post-season with the goal of winning nationals, where he will face a competitive D-III field.
The Jays will compete again this Friday, March 4 at the Tufts Last Chance Meet in Boston. Here, the teams will race in the hopes of qualifying for nationals, which will be held on March 11 and 12 in Grinnell, Iowa.
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