Johns Hopkins University Athletics

Bobby Van Allen is ready to begin his 24th  year as head coach of the men and women's cross country track teams. 

Women’s Cross Country
• Van Allen continued his recent stretch of dominance in the 2022 season, leading the program to its third consecutive and NCAA-record-setting eighth National Championship. With the win Allen became the lone women's cross country head coach in all of Division III to win eight national titles, having now claimed five of the last six NCAA Championships. The Blue Jays were paced by All-Americans Alex Ross, Sara Stephenson — both of whom finished in the top 10 — and Sydney Friedel, leading Van Allen to be named the National Coach of the Year for an NCAA-best eighth time.
• After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Jays picked up where they left off in 2021, winning the seventh national title in program history. Hopkins held off Claremont-Mudd-Scripps by two points to bring it home with Ella Baran, Ross, and Paloma Hancock earning All-America honors.
• With their win in 2019, the women’s program earned a sixth national title, including three straight from 2012-2014. The 2012 team became the first women's team in Hopkins history in any sport to win a national title and was also the first Division III national title for Hopkins since men's swimming in 1979. After successfully defending the title in 2013, Hopkins became the first team since the 2000-01 seasons to repeat as DIII NCAA Champions after being ranked No. 1 in the country the entire season. In 2014, the team captured its third consecutive title, becoming the first program to three-peat  — they have now achieved the feat twice — since SUNY Cortland four-peated from 1992-95.
• The Jays have also won 13 straight Centennial Conference titles and NCAA Mideast Championships.
• From 2012-2014 Van Allen earned three straight USTFCAAA National Coach of the Year honors. He has won the award eight times overall.
• Van Allen has been named the Centennial Conference Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year ten times, a conference record.

Men’s Cross Country
• The 2022 season saw the Blue Jays claim their third Centennial Conference title, a third straight runner-up finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships and a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships — a 12-place improvement from 2021. Gavin McElhennon became Hopkins' first NCAA Regional Champion since 1991, working alongside Emmanuel Leblond all year to become the first pair of All-Americans in the same season in program history.
• In 2021, Van Allen’s program earned another top-25 finish, placing 24^th at NCAA’s. In the fastest men’s championship in DIII history, Matthew Kleiman and Arthur Beyer ran the second and third-fastest championship times in program history to lead Hopkins.
• In 2019 the Blue Jays earned their best-ever finish at the Division III NCAA Championships, finishing fifth. Van Allen's squad was ranked inside the top-10 for the entirety of the season, continuing to prove that it can compete with the best of the best. Jared Pangallozzi earned the highest ever individual finish at Nationals under Van Allen's tutelage, placing fourth. 
• The 2017 season saw the team finish second in the Centennial Conference Championships, third in the Mideast regionals and 17th at NCAAs. The Blue Jays also recorded the highest ranking in school history, coming in at No. 3 in the USTFCCCA Poll.
• In 2016, the team won the Mideast Regional Championship for the second time while earning the programs best finish in the NCAAs with an eighth-place finish. The Jays earned back-to-back second place finishes in the Centennial Conference Championships in 2014 and 2015, while finishing third and fourth at regionals, respectively.
• The Hopkins men's cross-country team put together the best season in school history under Van Allen's leadership in 2013, winning the school's first-ever Centennial Conference and Mideast Regional Titles. The Centennial Championship was the first conference title for Johns Hopkins in men's cross country since 1953, and the Jays received the highest ranking in school history shortly after in the USTFCCCA Poll (No. 8). The team capped of the historic season with an 11th place finish and produced the first All-American since 1991.
• Van Allen was named the Centennial Coach of the Year and NCAA Mideast Coach of the Year for the first time on the men's side in 2013, and garnered his second title in 2016.
• The men's cross country team finished in third-place at the Centennial Conference Championship meet in 2007, which they duplicated in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. The men have been solid contenders in the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship with seventh-place finishes in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, they qualified for the NCAA championships as a team for the first time since 1977.
• The team finished 9th in the 2018 National Championships. 

Women’s Track & Field
• Building off an impressive campaign a season ago, Van Allen's 2022-23 Blue Jays won their 12th consecutive Centennial Conference Indoor title, 13th straight Outdoor title, and finished Top 8 at the National Championships. Van Allen won his sixth outdoor Regional Coach of the Year award after the record-breaking season, with the Jays serving as host to both the Track and Field Athletes of the Year. Hopkins was also home to the USTFCCCA National Outdoor Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year in Victoria Kadiri, with 16 other athletes earning All-Academic recognition.
• The 2021-22 season proved to be one of the best seasons in the program’s history. Van Allen’s teams both placed in the top-five at the NCAA Championships, finishing third at NCAA Outdoors and fourth at NCAA Indoors. The Jays also held their stranglehold on the conference, winning an 11^th consecutive indoor title and a 12^th consecutive outdoor title in the Centennial. The Jays set a Centennial record with 343 points at the Indoor Championships in 2022. In 2021, Hopkins set the Centennial record with 281 points in the Outdoor Championships.
• Van Allen has been named Centennial Indoor Coach of the Year eight times after earning the award in 2023. Van Allen has been named Region Indoor Coach of the Year nine times during his career. Van Allen has earned six Outdoor Centennial Coach of the Year honors and six All-Region Coach of the Year honors.
• Under Van Allen’s tutelage, Hopkins athletes have captured five individual national championships, 81 All-America honors, 12 Region Runner of the Year honors and five Region Field Athlete of the Year honors.  
• The Hopkins women's track team earned its first Centennial Conference track and field title in the outdoor season of 2010 and hasn’t lost since. Van Allen’s teams have scored over 200 points at the conference meets 18 times.
• The Blue Jays have totaled 19 Academic All-Americans under Van Allen including the Academic All-American of the Year in 2003 (Kathy Darling). Lindsay Cheu, Frances Loeb, Ella Baran, Annie Gutierrez and Alex Ross are all multiple time Academic All-America selections.

Men’s Track and Field
• In its 2022-23 seasons, Hopkins won its 10th consecutive Centennial Conference Indoor Championship and finished second at the Outdoor Championship, extending its streak of top two finishes to 11. Multiple program records fell during the Indoor season en route to a 25th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, while the program had its Distance Medley Relay earn its first All-American honors in program history. Van Allen's outdoor team also broke several program records while having eleven athletes earn All-Region recognition, with nine going on to compete at the NCAA Championships.
• Van Allen has continued to elevate the men’s program, winning nine straight Centennial Indoor titles and seven of the last eight outdoor championships. Hopkins won the 2022 indoor event with 201.50 points, just shy of 2018’s program record 215 points. The Jays finished second at the outdoor event with 189 points. Hopkins had won seven straight outdoor titles and has finished first or second in the last 10 outdoor championships.
• Under Van Allen, Blue Jay athletes have earned two individual national championships (Jared Pangallozzi, Andrew Carey), 21 All-America honors, 2 Region Track Athlete of the Year honors and 5 Region Field Athlete of the Year honors. Van Allen has been named Centennial Coach of the Year four times and has earned Region Indoor Coach of the Year honors once. Eight Blue Jays have earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors

Van Allen joined the Hopkins coaching staff in 1999 as an assistant assigned to the development of distance runners. He became the head coach in the fall of 1999 and the first full-time head coach in the history of the program in 2002.

Van Allen's coaching career began in the fall of 1998 at the University of Maryland, where he was a volunteer assistant coach after having had a highly successful career in the sport at Maryland.

He earned a BS in kinesiological sciences with a bio-physical option while competing in cross-country and track. As a Terrapin, he earned All-East cross country accolades and was a finalist at the ACC Championships in the 1500-meter run. He has earned a coach's diploma from the USTFCCCA and holds a Level 1 Coaching Certificate from USATF.