The Hopkins men's cross country continued its historical season, capturing the program's first-ever NCAA Mideast Regional Championship today with 62 points. In a repeat of the Centennial Championship race on November 2, the Blue Jays outran second-place Dickinson (88 points) and third-place Haverford (106 points) to capture the title.
Senior Max Robinson led the Jays with a seventh-place finish (24:53) while sophomore Schaffer Ochstein was a close eighth (24:53). Senior Julian Saliani took 10th (25:02), with freshman Stefan Arnold (25:21) and junior Austin Stecklair (25:22) finishing 18th and 19th (respectively) to help Hopkins secure the title. Head coach Bobby Van Allen was thrilled for his team, but knew they were capable of this type of performance after progressing all season.
"Depth was a factor again today," said Van Allen. "After winning the [Centennial Conference] Title, the mindset for this group was to go out and expect to win. Expectations this year have changed and the guys are feeding off that. Now we want to go to the NCAAs and win again. Maybe we're not the best team in the nation on paper, but good luck trying to convince these guys that."
A full team effort led the Dickinson men's cross country team to a second place finish at the 2013 Mideast Regional Championships held at Lehigh University. Centennial Conference rival Johns Hopkins took home the team title with 61 points, outpacing Dickinson's 88. Haverford rounded out the top three with 106 points.
Senior Ryan Steinbock (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) moved up beautifully over the last mile to finish fourth in a personal best of 24:45. Steinbock was in eighth place with 400 meters to go, but the hot early pace took the sting out of Schaffer Ochstein, Robinson, Chansler Poole of St. Vincent, and finally Avi Bregman of Haverford. All succumbed to Steinbock's venomous finishing kick over the last quarter mile. Steinbock's effort is the highest regional placing for a Red Devil harrier since Dylan Straughan's third place showing in 2010.
Senior co-captain Greg Clark (Chester Springs, Pa./The Hill School) followed Steinbock in 14th with a time of 25:08, also a personal best. Junior Mark Weinhoffer (Meyersville, N.J./Oratory Prep) ran third for the Devils and earned his first All-Region medal by placing 21st with a time of 25:22.
Runner-up Christopher Stadler and fifth-place finisher Avi Bregman of Haverford College's men's cross country team automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III 2013 men's cross country championship with their finishes Saturday at the D-III Mideast Regional on the eight-kilometer course at Lehigh University.
Haverford finished third in the team standings behind first-place Johns Hopkins University and runner-up Dickinson College. Hopkins and Dickinson earned the team automatic qualifying spots into nationals but the Fords will have to wait until the at-large bids are extended to learn if the rest of the team will be joining Stadler and Bregman in Hanover, Ind.
Stadler, the Centennial Conference champion, battled Allegheny College's Bobby Over to the finish Saturday afternoon with Over capturing the individual title by one second over Stadler who posted a runner-up time of 24 minutes, 30 seconds.
Bregman earned his spot into nationals with his fifth-place finishing time of 24:47.
The lead-pack Haverford pair earned All-Mideast region with their finishes, as did sophomore teammate Charlie Marquardt (16th, 25:17).
The Swarthmore College men's cross country squad placed sixth overall at the NCAA Mideast Regionals on Saturday afternoon.
With their times, senior Robert Fain, sophomore Mike McConville and freshman Sid Kakkar tabbed All-Mideast Region laurels. Kakkar was also mentioned on the Freshmen All-Mideast Region team.
McConville placed 17th overall with a 25:21 mark on the 8,000-meter course - a season-best time for the Hingham, Mass. native. Fain and Kakkar finished 14 seconds apart to reach the all-region honor at 25:30 (28th) and 25:44 (35th), respectively.
Bryan Andrews finished 31st to lead Franklin & Marshall to a 17th place at the 2013 Men's Cross Country Mideast Regionals on Saturday. The race featured 364 runners from 54 institutions.
Andrews is close to a national qualifying time, but will have to wait until tomorrow evening to find out if he earned a trip to the NCAA National Championships next weekend.
The junior covered the 8k course in 25:37 to earn his second All-Region honor while Bobby Over from Allegheny took first in 24:29.