HAVERFORD, PA - Hannah Oneda and Holly Clarke finished first and second overall to propel the No. 2 Johns Hopkins women's cross country team to its fifth consecutive Centennial Conference crown.

 

By placing six runners in the top-10, the Blue Jays scored 24 points to defeat second place Haverford by 63 points - the largest margin of victory in the 20-year history of the Centennial Conference.

 

"I couldn't be more proud of how well they performed today," said head coach Bobby Van Allen. "We had some outstanding competition today in [No. 14] Haverford and [No. 15] Dickinson, so to place as well as we did was a remarkable feat."

 

Oneda and Clarke ran side-by-side the entire race, establishing an early lead over some of the top runners in the nation. They both set a very solid tone and pace for the race, and finished one-two with Oneda (21:03) becoming just the third Hopkins runner to win the conference. Clarke finished just a second behind in 21:04.

 

Annie Monagle used her outstanding speed to take fourth place down the last 200-meters to earn her first all-conference honors. Sophia Meehan, Ashley Murphy and Lara Shegoski fed off each other very well, ultimately finishing 8-9-10 respectively, while Frances Loeb continued to return to her 2011 form by finishing in 20th place.

 

The Blue Jays continue to look like one of the top programs in the nation, as their top-five ran with a gap of just 46 seconds, their smallest gap in several years.

The Hopkins women's JV team was also victorious, as Maggie Hashmall led the Blue Jays to their second consecutive JV conference crown with a perfect score of 15.

 

The Blue Jays return to action next weekend at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships in Carlisle, PA. Winners of four consecutive regional titles, Hopkins has been ranked first in the region all season.