The Georgetown women’s track and field team earned sixth place at the IC4A/ECAC championships last weekend, ending a four-year streak of finishing in the top two at the meet. The men took fourth in the competition, held at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

The men’s squad has also traditionally done well at this event, tallying victories for five consecutive years from 1998 to 2002. This year, however, the teams did not perform as well because many top Georgetown athletes did not compete or raced in events outside their normal range in order to prepare for the NCAA Regional Championships, which start on May 28.

Senior James Graham led the effort at last weekend’s meet , bringing home a gold medal in the 400m hurdles with a NCAA regional qualifying mark of 51.38 seconds. Seniors Maura McCusker and Treniere Clement added to their already impressive senior campaigns with wins in their events. McCusker, who captured the gold in the 800m race, ran a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 2:08 while Clement won the 3,000m in a time of 9:21.99.

Other runners also finished with strong times – senior Ali Najjar placed second in the 800m with a time of 1:50.51 while junior Tommy Manning placed third in the 1,500m with a personal record of 3:48.19. Sophomore Chris Bonner also added points to the team effort with his fifth-place performance in the 400m dash, completed in 47.4 seconds. All three efforts met NCAA Regional qualifying standards.

The women received a strong showing from senior Monica Hargrove in the 400m dash with her time of 54.01 and senior Amanda Pape and junior Nicole Lee in the 5,000m. Pape and Lee both qualified for the NCAA Regional meet in the 5,000m with their respective times of 16:43.29 and 16:46.20, while Hargrove met the regional standard in the 400m. Other Hoya scorers included seniors Dan Tebbano and Jesse O’Connell in the 1,500m.

“The meet went well and both teams were up there in terms of points,” said Ron Helmer, director of track and field and cross country. “Many of these performances look good for the upcoming regionals and NCAAs after that.”

There are a handful of athletes with the potential to do well at the upcoming NCAA Regional and National meets. Clement, O’Connell and sophomore Chris Lukezic each have some of the fastest times in the country in their respective events and all could walk away as national champions after the final collegiate meet of the season. The men’s 3,200-meter relay team is also a contender for a national title. The team won the Championship of America race at the Penn Relays earlier this year and is considered a favorite to win the event again at the NCAA national meet in June.

Looking beyond the national meet, a few Hoyas are aimed towards the Olympic trials qualifying meet in July. Some, such as Clement, O’Connell and Lukezic, have already met the trials’ “B” standard and are hopeful of making the national team that will travel to Athens for the Olympic Games in August.

“This season, we have a strong team that is led by the seniors we have. The few athletes that will go for the [Olympic] trials in July have potential to be very successful,” Helmer said.