Blue Jays Make A Case For Number One

Hopkins Places Three In The Top Five

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The Blue Jays place five in top 10.

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Sept. 26, 2009

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The Johns Hopkins women's cross country staked its claim to the number one spot in the next NCAA Division III rankings as the Blue Jays beat top-ranked Middlebury, seventh-ranked Williams and several other nationally-ranked teams at Williams' Purple Valley Classic on Saturday. The Blue Jays placed three runners in the top five and all five scoring runners in the top 10 to easily claim the top spot with 29 points. Williams, which finished third at last year's NCAA Championships, was second with 55 points.

The Blue Jays broke into two packs of runners to fuel their victory. Laura Paulsen (Lutherville, MD/Bryn Mawr), Mira Patel (Moraga, CA/Campolindo), Christina Valerio (West Milford, NJ/West Milford), Liz Provost (Keene, NH/Keene) and Cecilia Furlong (San Francisco, CA/University HS) all formed a strong pack that stuck together near the front of the pack throughout the race. Mary O'Grady (Anchorage, AK/South Anchorage), Megan Brower (Cary, NC/Green Hope) and Nadia McMillan (Sayville, NY/ Upper Dublin) formed a solid second pack not far behind.

Paulsen and Oberlin's Joanna Johnson eventually pulled away from the pack with Johnson taking first place and Paulsen second. From there, the Blue Jay depth was on display as Patel claimed third place and Valerio was fifth. Williams claimed spots six, seven and eight, but a ninth-place finish by Valerio and a 10th-place finish by Provost secured the team title for the Blue Jays.

McMillan and O'Grady had a blistering last mile; chasing down the number five runners from both Williams and Middlebury, giving the Blue Jays seven runners ahead of every school's number five runner.

"I couldn't be more proud of the way the girls ran today," Johns Hopkins head coach Bobby Van Allen noted. "They stuck to the game plan exactly and ran smart through the first half and aggressive in the end. They were very focused and were able to beat two of the best teams in the nation. We have a tremendous amount of respect for the programs at both Middlebury and Williams. They are consistent contenders for the national championship and we enjoyed the opportunity to come here and compete with them."

If the Blue Jays do move up to number one in the nation they will join the men's lacrosse, baseball and water polo teams as the only ones in JHU history to be ranked number one.

The second half the women's cross country placed fourth in York (PA) Invitational.

The Blue Jays will return to action Friday, October 2 at the Paul Short Invitational. The meet will feature over 110 schools broken down into three races. The women's team will be placed in the Gold Section, against many of the Division I programs in the meet, including Tennessee, Indiana, Wake Forest, NC State, Villanova and West Virginia.