WESTMINSTER, MD – The Johns Hopkins men's cross country team traveled in-state to compete at the ECAC Division III Mid Atlantic Championships Friday afternoon, with Eli Merritt's first collegiate win lifting the Blue Jays to a team victory over McDaniel and Delaware Valley.
 
The freshman impressed in Friday's 8K, sitting in sixth at the 3-kilometer mark before methodically climbing five spots to cross the finish line in first with a time of 27:03.4. Nicholas Pham was the next to cross the line in third, passing a pair of competitors in the final two kilometers to finish with a time of 27:42.1 before Arjun Subramanian rounded out Hopkins' top five finishers with the senior's time of 27:49.1 securing him fifth.
 
Finishing just outside the top five were Joey Souverein, Aakash Iyer and Dhruv Mahajan, who swept spots 6-8 with times od 27:50.1, 28:02.8 and 28:05.3 respectively, with Aiden Deffner (10^th / 28:30.1) serving as the last Blue Jays runner to finish in the top 10 in another dominant team showing.
 
Hopkins won the meet with just 22 points, with McDaniel (39) and Deleware Valley (82) coming in behind the Blue Jays. Next up for Hopkins are the NCAA Regionals Saturday, Nov. 16 where they will look to earn its first win since 2016 and an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.