BALTIMORE, MD – Graduate student Alex Ross picked up the first individual first-place finish of her career to power the third-ranked Johns Hopkins women's cross country team to a first-place finish at the 11-team Baltimore Metro Thursday evening at Goucher College.
 
Paced by Ross's first-place showing, the Blue Jays placed five runners in the top eight and finished with a team score of 24 to edge runner-up Maryland by eight points.  The Terps (32 points) were followed by Elizabethtown (103), Susquehanna (105) and McDaniel (185) in the top five of the final team scoring.
 
Ross picked up her title by covering the 5k course in 18:01.1; she finished six seconds ahead of Maryland's Katie Altieri, who clocked in at 18:16.1 to finish second.
 
Four of the next six runners to cross the line were Blue Jays to help secure the team title for Johns Hopkins.  Senior Sara Stephenson (3^rd / 18:28.5), senior Sydney Friedel (5^th / 18:34.1), junior Paloma Hancock (7^th / 18:51.3) and freshman Isis Diaz (8^th / 18:52.1) all broke the 19-minute mark and rounded out Hopkins' five scoring runners.
 
The Blue Jays' depth was on full display at the finish line as eight more Hopkins runners crossed the line inside the 20-minute mark.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on September 16 when the Blue Jays fly to Michigan to compete in Michigan State's Spartan Invitational.  The race is being held on the same course as the 2022 NCAA Division III Championships will be held in November.