BOSTON – The Johns Hopkins men's track & field team ran at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational Saturday afternoon, securing several season-best times facing off against top-level competition.
 
Jonas Larson was the first Blue Jays to compete, racing in the unseeded division of the 5000. The senior finished in 42^nd with a time of 14:32.49, setting a new personal-best time that ranks second in the Centennial Conference.
 
Next up was the unseeded 3000-meter in which Connor Oiler earned himself a personal-best time of 8:22.55 to finish 20^th. Oiler's final time is also the second-fastest in the Centennial. Tommy Li also grabbed a top-50 finish, crossing the line in 8:30.22, a time that ranks fourth in the conference.
 
Racing in the seeded 3000 were Emmanuel Leblond and Gavin McElhennon, who finished in 78^th and 96^th respectively. Leblond's final time of 8:13.16 was a personal best, ranks him first in the Centennial, 19^th in the country and is the second-fastest finish in program history, while McElhennon's 8:17.89 also served as a season-best and places him behind only Leblond in the Centennial rankings.
 
Hopkins then ran in the 800-meter, where Fisayo Omonije, Zach Martin and Evan Kelly all set new season-best times. Omonije was the first to finish in 168^th with a time of 1:55.87 — earning him fourth in the Centennial — followed by a personal best 1:56.05 from Martin, with Kelly finishing just behind in 1:57.04.
 
Alex Colletti and Spencer Ye were the last to compete on the afternoon in the 400 and 200. Colletti was the top-finisher in the 400, finishing 79^th with a time of 49.56 that ranks third in the Centennial, with Ye coming in less than one-tenth of a second later in 82^nd with a final time of 49.64 — both were personal-bests. The roles were reversed in the 200, where Ye was the first to cross the line in 102^nd with a time of 22.71 — fifth in the Centennial — while Colletti grabbed 110^th after crossing the line in 22.82.