Colwell’s court: Schaffer Ochstein — Cross Country

This past Saturday, the Hopkins men’s cross country team clinched the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship for the second time in Hopkins history, defeating top seed and conference rival Haverford College by just one point.

In the 65-64 victory, the Blue Jays saw notable performances from all their runners, placing the top six among the first 23 finishers.

The top six Jays — graduate student Schaffer Ochstein, senior Tom Pavarini, junior Louis Levine, sophomore Alex Doran, sophomore Ollie Hickson and sophomore Scott Pourshalchi — all earned All-Region honors after what could easily be their best team performance of the season.

The News-Lettercould have welcomed a multitude of runners to the Court this week, but as the top finisher for Hopkins this weekend and a near season-best time, graduate student Schaffer Ochstein is this week’s Athlete of the Week.

Over the years, Ochstein has consistently been a strong performer for the Blue Jays. In both his 2012 and 2013 seasons, Ochstein was named USTFCCCA All-Mideast Region as well as Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year during the 2012 season.

Leading the Jays in key races this season including the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle and the Greater Louisville Classic Silver Race, Ochstein has consistently led the Jays as the top Hopkins finisher.

More recently, Ochstein landed himself on the All-Centennial Conference First Team with a third place finish at the Centennial Conference Championships held two weeks ago.

Furthermore, this Saturday at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship, Ochstein was joined by his teammates in earning All-Region Honors.

This is the third time the graduate standout has earned All-Region honors, making him just one of four Hopkins runners in program history to do so.

Following his race, Ochstein sat down with The News-Letter to reflect on the team’s performance at Regionals and share how the team will prepare for Nationals in the coming days.

The News-Letter: With a time of 25:08, you finished in the top five and had one of your best races of the season. What does a finish like this, in one of your last XC races, mean to you?

Schaffer Ochstein: While it was my second fastest of the season, the most exciting part of Regionals was qualifying as a team for Nationals.

N-L: This was just the second time the Hopkins men’s cross country team won the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. Was the team expecting such a result?

SO: We knew we had tough competition in Haverford as well as Carnegie Mellon but that if we had a good race, winning was always a possibility.

N-L: After a tough loss to Haverford in the Centennial Conference Championship, how did the team gather themselves to come back and edge the Fords out by one point at Regionals?

SO: What it came down to was being able to run as a pack. The time between our first and sixth was only 29 seconds. Having our fifth and sixth runners finish before Haverford’s fifth was key.

N-L: Does the team have any weird good luck rituals or superstitions?

SO: Not really, but the team likes to dress up at the nationals banquet.

N-L: The Hopkins women’s team will also be travelling to Kentucky as winners of the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship. How do the two teams interact and support each other?

SO: Both teams support each other a lot and are really close. It is the culture that Coach Van Allen has developed. Over my time at Hopkins, the women’s success has motivated the men’s team. It is amazing to see how many different individuals on the women’s team can be the seventh or even 14th runner on the team one year, and then the next, they are among the top runners in the country.

N-L: How will the team prepare for the NCAA National Championships in the next few days?

SO: Right now, the team is prioritizing recovery and working on staying sharp for the race. Then, on Friday [when we arrive in Kentucky] we will run through the course to prepare.

N-L: Any personal or team goals for Nationals?

SO: The team is hoping to finish in the top 10 at Nationals.

We will see if Ochstein and the Jays are able to carry their success from Regionals into the weekend. Both the men’s and the women’s teams will travel to Louisville, Ky. to compete in their last race of the season on Nov. 19.