Two years ago, Megan Hogan was in the running to be a collegiate basketball player for Mount Ida College in Massachusetts.
That didn’t work out and she no longer plays basketball.
But she’s still running.
And the GW women’s cross country team is glad she is. In her first semester at GW – and only her second year as a runner – Hogan is making a name for herself in Foggy Bottom and blazing a trail through the rest of the Atlantic 10.
She finished second at the A-10 Championships last weekend in Charlotte, N.C. Hogan completed the 5-kilometer race with a time of 17:39.4, trailing the leader by less than two seconds. The top-notch placing earned her a spot as one of the 15 women selected for the all-conference team – the only Colonial on the squad.
For Hogan, it was an outstanding performance. She crossed the finish line two minutes faster than her old personal best. Despite her improvement, Hogan focused on the two seconds separating her from the leader.
“I just wish I beat that girl ahead of me,” she said.
She may hold herself to high standards, but Hogan wasn’t the only underclassman speeding through the course Saturday. Sophomore Jessica Stern finished 18th in the same race with a time of 18:46.4. But despite the top-20 showing by the two GW sophomores, the Colonials still placed 9th out of 14 teams in the competition.
“It was frustrating,” Hogan admitted. “But it happens, especially in cross country . It’s not like basketball where you can just sub some person in for you.”
Quick to defend her team, Hogan shows herself as a leader on and off the track. She is confident in the team’s future and is well aware of the effect that her performance has on her teammates.
“Everyone feeds off each other’s energy,” she said. “If one person does well, the rest of the team wants to do just as well, and it just makes us work harder. It’s that kind of teamwork.”
That support will carry Hogan to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship in Princeton, N.J., Nov. 15. The NCAA National Championships will take place in Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 24.
