With all of their championship meets at least five weeks down the road, the Georgetown men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams didn’t need to approach last Saturday’s meets at Rutgers and George Mason with a whole lot of urgency. But that didn’t stop both squads from running over the competition and accumulating an abundance of championship-qualifying times.

At the Father Diamond Invitational at George Mason, the Hoyas captured five top finishes, four of which came from the women, and 11 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference/Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (ECAC/IC4A) qualifying times.

Sophomore Treniere Clement led the way, cruising to victory in the 1,000m race, then running a leg on the Hoyas’ winning 4x400m relay team. For Clement, a middle distance runner who hopes to earn an NCAA bid in the mile, the wins seemed to suggest big things to come.

“Our team is back,” Clement said. “We had a national-caliber week, and we should carry that momentum into the remainder of the season.”

Two other members of the 4x400m relay team, junior Janelle Billingslea and senior Tyrona Heath, met ECAC standards in the 500m run. Billingslea won the race in 1:14.15, and Heath followed in third with a time of 1:14.75.

Junior Erin Sicher, who earned a trip to nationals last spring in the 1500m and is considered a favorite in the mile this season, turned in another winning performance for the Hoyas. Sicher ran 4:52.11 in the mile, and was followed in fourth by senior Emily Enstice, who crossed the line in 4:58.99. Both times met ECAC standards.

“Erin had an incredible cross country season. She really took a big step forward, and she’s always been good on the track,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Ron Helmer said. “Our challenge now as coaches is being sure that we put it all together. She opened up well, and I think a month from now she’ll be incredible.”

Junior Jamillah Bowman, who ran the anchor of the winning 4x400m relay team, earned runner-up honors in the 400m dash with an ECAC qualifying time of 56.40.

Freshmen Kelley Otstott and Erica Derrickson posted other championship-level performances, with Otstott recording 2:56.57 in the 1,000m run, and Derrickson notching a Big East qualifying mark of 3.05m in the pole vault.

A come-from-behind win in the mile relay was the highlight of the men’s side at the Father Diamond Invitational. 500m runner-up sophomore Ali Najjar and 400m runner-up junior Robert Wingate-Robinson combined in the third and anchor legs to overcome an early deficit and guide the team to a victorious, IC4A qualifying time of 3:17.62.

“That race was interesting because we led off with a walk-on who had never run indoor track before,” Associate Head Coach Andrew Valmon said. “And he handed off to an athlete who had fallen earlier in the meet, and whose knees were bothering him. So as I presented it to [Najjar and Wingate-Robinson], I told them that we would not be in front, so go out and make it happen. It was a gradual thing, we were way behind, and by the time you turned around, we were in front. I think part if it is their desire, and I think we’re also now slowly gelling together as a team.”

The Hoyas also fared well in the field events, as senior Josh Rollins garnered an NCAA provisionally qualifying mark of 7.63m in the long jump for second place. Senior Davin Williams, competing unattached, followed Rollins with a sixth place effort, and set a personal-record with his leap of 7.34m.

“Josh and Davin had tremendous jumps,” Valmon said.

Meanwhile, distance runners dominated the Rutgers Invitational, as Georgetown pulled out another set of victories and championship qualifying times.

Graduate student Kyle Smits and senior Lorena Adams brought home a combined four first place finishes, earning the top spots in both the men’s and women’s mile and 3000m runs.

“Lorena had a great fall of training,” Helmer said. “And right now I’m very happy with where she is. The intensity level is up there, and she’s really enjoying racing right now.”

Sophomore Sara Scholl, juniors Allison Snyder and Emily Reaman, and freshman Jessica Czervionke followed Adams’ lead, sweeping the remaining four spots of the top five in the mile.

The Hoyas were also well represented in the men’s and women’s 1,000m runs. In the men’s race, sophomore Jesse O’Connell, junior Dylan Welsh, senior Corey Smith, junior George O’Loughlin, senior Chris Miltenberg, junior Daniel Tebbano and freshman Tommy Manning all qualified for IC4A competition. O’Connell paced the field with a time of 2:25.6.

On the women’s side of the 1,000, senior Heather Blackard, sophomore Rose Wetzel, freshman Lauren Graham and Scholl swept the top four spots, with Blackard and Wetzel both meeting ECAC requirements.

Other winning performances on the day came from sophomore Dionna Jordan in both the 200m dash and the 400m run, junior Lori-Ann Gregory in the 500m run, sophomore Monica Hargrove in the 800m run, the men’s 4x800m relay and both the men’s and women’s mile relay teams.

Next week the teams will split up again, traveling to Navy for a dual meet and Blacksburg, Va. for the Virginia Tech Invitational.