As the outdoor track season swings into full gear, the Georgetown track and field team kept up its top form with impressive showing as the Carolina Fast Times Meet on April 9 at the University of North Carolina. Both the women’s and men’s teams turned in a handful of qualifying times and personal bests.

The main focus of the Hoyas’ success was in the 800m run. On the men’s side, the Hoyas scored five of the top six spots in the race. This team effort was led senior star Jesse O’Connell who came close to his best time with a run of 1:47.76. This was the 11th-fastest time ever run by a Hoya and garnered O’Connell an NCAA Regional qualifying mark. Fellow Hoya sophomore Chris Lukezic opened up his final outdoor season in splendor as he raced to a 1:48.88 finish second only to O’Connell. Seniors Ezra Richards and Ali Najjar and junior Nat Glackin were not far behind as they crossed the line in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively. They finished with impressive times of 1:50.95, 1:51.18 and 1:53.12.

“I was very happy with the 800[m] runners, they all turned in solid times and I’m excited about putting them all on a relay especially with the Penn Relays coming up,” Director of Track and Field Ron Helmer said.

On the women’s side, the Hoyas owned the 800m run as they took charge of the event, placing six out of the top seven runners. Senior Treniere Clement led this impressive effort as she won in a stellar time of 2:06.07, her personal best. Following her were senior Maura McCusker, junior Kelley Otstott and sophomore Sabine Knothe who ran three-four-five with respective times of 2:09.32, 2:10.41 and ran 2:10.84. Even more Hoyas followed them as freshman Nana Hanson-Hall and freshman Jayne Penn finished in sixth and seventh places with respective times of 2:12.16 and 2:14.8.

Other successes came on the women’s side from senior Amanda Pape and sophomore Kim Malcolm who both doubled in the 1,500m and the 3,000m runs. Pape won the 3,000m in a time of 9:51.15 as Malcolm came in fourth place in 10:26.84. In the 1,500m, Pape finished third in a time of 4:32.67 while Malcolm came seventh in a time of 4:41.13. Senior Colleen Kelly ran to a second-place finish in the 1,500m run with her 4:26.69. Kelly’s time was a NCAA regional qualifying mark.

In the men’s 1,500m, a slew of solid performances were turned in by Hoyas junior Tommy Manning, freshman Matt Debole, senior Dan Tebbano, freshman Brian Dalpiaz and sophomore Fleet Hower. Manning won the race in 3:49.76 while Debole and Tebbano came across the line in respective times of 3:50.14 and 3:50.76.

Other impressive performances were turned in by sophomore Chris Bonner who won the 400m race in 47.68. Junior Leilani Green performed at her specialty as she placed sixth in the pole vault. Senior Monica Hargrove turned in an impressive double as she ran second in the 400m and third in the 200m with respective times of 54.24 and 24.55.

“Overall, I think this meet showed that we are coming around. We are still a few weeks behind, but I think we will definitely be ready for championship season,” Helmer said.