The Georgetown men’s cross country team ran to a third-place finish at the NCAA Pre-National meet last Saturday, Oct. 15, in Terre Haute, Ind. Georgetown was the only Big East team to finish in the top 15 in the blue race.

The Hoyas, who finished with a total of 222 points, were led by senior Fleet Hower who crossed the line in seventh place in a time of 23:56 on the 8km course in his season debut. His time broke the GU course record of 24:11 which was set by Rod Koborsi (MSB ’05) last year.

Junior Matt Debole finished next for the Hoyas in a time of 24:19 to finish in 30th place. Senior Charles Millieon and sophomore Dan Nunn finished in 44th and 64th respectively with times of 24:30 and 24:45. Junior Brian Dalpiaz rounded out the scorers in 77th place with a time of 24:52.

Freshman Mike Krisch and junior Andre Laboy completed the top-seven squad as they ran in 93rd and 102nd places, respectively, with times of 25:01 and 25:05.

In the men’s open race, graduate student Tommy Manning finished eighth with a time of 24:58.6 and junior Rasheed Thompson finished 22nd in 25:25.8.

Stanford and BYU finished ahead of Georgetown with 89 and 174 points, respectively.

On the women’s side, the team finished 19th place overall with a score of 446 points. Stanford won the race with 86 points. Georgetown was one of three Big East teams to finish in the top 20.

Junior Elizabeth Maloy continued her success this season as she led the team with a 35th-place finish. She ran 21:04 for the 6km course.

“Liz missed two years of cross country, so she is short of experience but is learning and getting better,” said Ron Helmer, director of track and field and cross country .

Sophomore Maggie Infeld finished a few steps behind in 42nd place as she crossed the line in 21:13. Senior Erin Henry finished in 88th place with a time of 21:52. Georgetown’s fourth scorer was senior Kim Malcolm, who completed the course in 22:20 good for 128th place. The Ogrodnick twins were the next two Hoyas to finish, as freshmen Avril and Lise finished with respective times of 22:35 and 22:45 in 153rd and 161st places. Senior Sabine Knothe completed the Hoya finished shortly behind, coming in at 22:49 for 167th.

“Overall, as a team, I know we’re ready to run better. We’re in great shape and team morale is very high . we try to stay focused and intense, yet have fun at the same time,” Infeld said.

The team is presently preparing to compete at the Big East championships to be held at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx, N.Y., on Saturday, Oct. 28.

The Hoya men go into the conference meet with a No. 9 national ranking in the latest Mondo Division I Poll. The women’s team fell just shy of the top 30 ranking as they secured the No. 31 spot.

“In terms of fitness, we’re working hard and training well, we’re better than a lot of the teams that beat,” Helmer said. “We’ll be where we need to be at the end of the season.”