LOCH HAVEN, PA – Graduate student Alex Ross became Johns Hopkins' eighth NCAA Regional champion and her first-place showing powered the Blue Jay women's cross country team to its 14^th consecutive regional team title Saturday morning at Loch Haven University.  The Blue Jays placed all five of their scoring runners in the top 15 and totaled 40 points to easily outdistance runner-up Carnegie Mellon, which placed second with 112 points.
 
Ross, who was the regional runner-up a year ago, grabbed her individual title by crossing the line in 21:42.8 to edge Scranton's Jessica Hoffmann by just over four seconds (21:47.0).  Senior Sara Stephenson bookended a one-three finish for Johns Hopkins' top two finishers as she came across in 21:53.6; this is the sixth time that Johns Hopkins has had two of the top three finishers at the regional.
 
The Blue Jays locked down the team title shortly after Stephenson finished.  Among scoring runners, they got a seventh-place finish from freshman Isis Diaz (22:22.7), a 14^th-place showing from Katharine Priu (22:41.9) and a 15^th-place finish from Triya Roy (22:42.1).

The five scoring runners for the Blue Jays all crossed the line before any other team had its third finisher.  In fact, Jamie Stelnik (22:51.9) and Cooper Brotherton (22:58.2) added top 26 finishes as well to earn All-Region honors and gave the Blue Jays all seven of their finishers before any other team had its fourth individual cross.
 
After Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon, Scranton (155 points), Dickinson (170) and Elizabethtown (185) rounded out the top five in the final team standings among the 29 scoring teams.
 
With its title, Johns Hopkins earns an automatic bid to next week's NCAA Championships.  The championship will take place in East Lansing, Michigan with the Blue Jays seeking their third consecutive title and record-breaking eight overall; all seven of the team's national championships have come since 2012.
 
- 30 -