It begins today.  After nearly three months since the last time a Johns Hopkins team competed (for the record, that was the baseball team in the Division III World Series on June 3 (in a game that actually began on June 2)), five different Blue Jay teams will open the 2019-20 competition year in three different states today.
 
Over the next nine months, 24 teams representing Johns Hopkins will compete more than 450 times in at least three time zones; in all, more than 600 individuals will don a Blue Jay uniform in the coming year.
 
So, in case you can't tell, I'm a numbers/stats guy.  Always have been and likely always will be.  Sure, video and social media have certainly changed my job since I arrived at Hopkins (the day after Labor Day in 1997 … or, I believe, before virtually every one of our current student athletes was even born), but the numbers are at the root of why I love my job. 
 
From batting averages (I watched John Christ hit .513 in 1998) to goals (I saw every one of Ryan Brown's 61 goals in 2015), from goals against averages (Gary Kane's 0.25 mark in 2004 … he gave up five goals in 1,800+ minutes) to yards per reception (Luke McFadden's school-record 17.6 career mark from 2015-18) … and of course, all those 4.0 GPAs at Hopkins (71 student-athletes posted a 4.0 in the spring!).  Yup, I'm just full of useless information (more on that later).
 
With that, as we begin another year, I thought I'd share some of the numbers I have my eye on for the fall season as the gun gets ready to sound (translation, cross country is the first team that will officially compete this year!).  I could offer dozens, but for these purposes I'll keep it singular – as in, a dozen.
 
4 – The Blue Jay volleyball team is after its fourth consecutive Centennial Conference title (which carries an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament).  JHU has won six of the last eight CC titles with three-year runs from 2011-13 and 2016-18.
 
6 – The Johns Hopkins women's cross country team, which is ranked 2^nd in the nation entering the season, is looking for its sixth NCAA Championship in the last eight years.  The Van Allen Express claimed titles in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 and missed out on the sixth by a single point last season.
 
7 – Head coach Leo Weil's women's soccer team will play seven non-conference games against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.  Just to be clear, Weil's team only plays eight non-conference games.  Top that … anyone!
 
12 – Junior Jared Pangallozzi placed 12^th at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships last season.  The 12^th-place finish is the highest in school history.  For good measure, Pangallozzi was the top finisher in the nation among all freshmen and sophomores at the NCAAs last season and helped JHU place ninth overall.
 
2/1/5/19 – Sorry, just so much to include about our field hockey team.  Ok, deep breath.  In her second season at the helm, head coach Jane Wells guided her Blue Jays to the program's first trip to the final four, fifth Centennial Conference title and a school-record 19 wins.  Whew!  Can't wait to see how the encore unfolds.
 
80 – Percentage of the scoring from last season that is returning for head coach Craig Appleby's men's soccer team, which is seeking its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.  Did I mention the NCAA Tournament?  Craziest NCAA Tournament game I've seen in 22 years at JHU – in any sport?  That would be the 6-5 (yes, 6-5) men's soccer win over Bethany in the 1998 regional semifinal at Messiah.  Of course, that has nothing to do with the 2019 season, but how many times are you going to watch a team fall behind 2-0 and stop a penalty kick that would have made it 3-0 and then have the game interesting?  6-5 … I'll never forget that one.
 
100 – Tackles last season for sophomore Robert Fletcher, who became the first Blue Jay freshman to lead the team in tackles in at least 30 years.­  I think we'll enjoy watching him play for three more years.
 
130/78/208 – Career goal (130), assist (78) and point (208) totals for senior water polo standout Finn Banks.  With 22 assists he'll become jus the eighth player in school history with 100 goals and 100 assists.
 
393 – Women's soccer head coach Leo Weil enters the season with 393 career wins – all at Johns Hopkins.  He ranks sixth among active Division III coaches with his 393 wins and his overall mark stands at 393-118-39.
 
475 – Directors' Cup points amassed by Johns Hopkins' fall teams in 2018.  475 points … you know, the most ever by a Division III school in the fall.
 
749 – Career kills for senior outside hitter LuLu Kishton.  She could become just the seventh player in school history to amass 1,000 or more career kills (fwiw, she's topped 300 kills in each of the last two seasons … so you're saying there's chance!).
 
4,111 – Number of passing yards for Blue Jay quarterback David Tammaro in 2018.  For the record, Tammaro was the only Division III quarterback in the nation to throw for more than 4,000 yards last season and his 4,111 yards are the ninth-highest total in Division III history.
 
Hope you enjoyed that glimpse into the numbers.  Be sure to check out your favorite Blue Jay team in-person or online this year.  After all, you never know when you'll see something remarkable that ends up on my next list.

By the way, have you seen the Seinfeld episode where Jerry's girlfriend says to him "I've never met a man who knows so much about nothing?"
 
--- Forever a Blue Jay ---
 
Ernie Larossa is in his 23rd year as the Director of Athletic Communications at Johns Hopkins.  In short, he has the greatest job in the world; he gets paid to watch Johns Hopkins athletes compete and chronicle their achievements.  In September, 2017, he decided it was time to periodically pen a column about something related to Blue Jay athletics.