Junior Graham Belton will compete for a place in Hopkins' top five.

Sept. 4, 2008

BALTIMORE, MD - Head coach Bobby Van Allen, who is in his ninth season at Johns Hopkins, will look to lead the men's cross country team to its first NCAA Championship team appearance.

The Blue Jays will lose NCAA qualifier Patrick Brandon, but return three of their top five runners. Sophomore Steven Tobochnik (Kalamazoo, MI/Loy Norrix) came on strong near the end of the outdoor track championships, taking third place in the ECAC 5k with a time of 15:03. He will contend to be one of the top runners within the Centennial Conference this year.

Junior David Sigmon (Big Harbor, WA/Peninsula) and senior Geoff Nunns (Danville, CA/Monte Vista) both had very successful seasons last year and will look to rise into the top 14 in the conference. Although the Blue Jays lose two strong seniors from last year's team, they have their best freshman class in the history of the program that should make it an even stronger this year. Freshman Brian Rooney (Arlington, VA/St. Albans) and Mickey Borsellino (Haddon Heights, NJ/Haddon Heights) have been exceptional in the preseason. They are both challenging the team's top returners and will make a big impact on the team.

Sophomore Noah Jampol (Waban, WA/Newton North) and junior Graham Belton (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta Inernational) both could easily be amongst the top five runners as well.

The schedule will be a difficult one for the Blue Jays, featuring many top Division I and Division III teams. The Blue Jays open their season on Friday, September 5 with the Baltimore Metro Invitational, where they will look to win their fifth straight championship.

Hopkins travels to Carlisle, PA on September 20 to take on many Centennial Conference and Mideast Region foes at the Dickinson Long Short Invite. This unique meet will mimic the format of the World Cross Country Championships with the men racing both a 4k and 8k distance. The Jays will be the only Division III team competing at the Colonial Inter-Regional Invitational on September 27. The meet is scheduled to include William & Mary, Virginia, Virginia Tech, LaSalle, American, and Georgetown. After a week off, the team will head to Orlando, FL for the Disney Cross Country Invitational on October 11 and conclude the regular season at the Gettysburg Invitational on October 18th. The championship portion of the schedule will feature the Centennial Conference Championship on November 1, where Hopkins will look to improve upon its third place finish a year ago. On November 15 the Blue Jays travel to Waynesburg, PA for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship. The men finished fifth last season, missing the NCAA Championship by just one place.

"We are very excited about our schedule," said Van Allen. "We should have our best men's team in the history of our program, and I feel this schedule will prepare us well to qualify for nationals."