Courtesy Peynado Jamiliah Bowman finished second in the 400m hurdles with a time of 58.75 seconds, a personal best.

Personal records fell in droves last weekend at the Sea Ray Relays and Virginia Invitational, as Georgetown’s track and field program continued to rack up Big East and NCAA Regional qualifications in its latest push toward the season’s coming championship meets.

“I thought we had a really good weekend,” Associate Head Coach Andrew Valmon said. “We’re really getting a lot of bodies qualified for the regional meet, and that was our goal early on. Hopefully we can keep that going.”

Led by phenomenal performances in the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles by seniors James Graham and Jamillah Bowman, junior Jesse O’Connell’s individual victory in the 800m and the men’s first-place finish in the distance medley relay, the Sea Ray Relays minted Georgetown a total of 12 NCAA Regional qualifiers. Meanwhile, another segment of the team made serious breakthroughs at the Virginia Invitational.

Graham (56.14) and Bowman (58.75) both claimed second-place finishes in the 400m hurdles, set personal records and earned NCAA Regional qualifications. O’Connell’s time of 1:47.97 was just shy of his personal record, but earned him a position at regionals. Georgetown claimed two additional regional qualifications in the 800m behind O’Connell’s first-place finish, as junior Ali Najjar and sophomore Nat Glackin ran to times of 1:49.36 and 1:51.82, respectively.

The women’s team had similar success in the 800m, where junior Maura McCusker and freshman Meghan O’Neil both set new personal records. McCusker was third overall, with a time of 2:07.57, and O’Neil, with a time of 2:10.25, joined McCusker in earning a regional qualification.

Junior Treniere Clement led the women in the 1,500m, where she placed second with a time of 4:26.44. Senior Erin Sicher was sixth in 4:30.05. Both Clement and Sicher earned NCAA Regional qualifications, while junior Colleen Kelly, who timed 4:31.06, fell just 0.06 seconds away from also earning a regional bid.

The men received standout performances in the 1,500m from freshman Chris Lukezic (3:44.73), senior Dylan Welsh (3:45.63) and sophomore Tommy Manning (3:49.69). All three runners established new personal records and qualified for regionals.

On the second day of competition at the Sea Ray Relays, the team of O’Connell, Lukezic, Welsh and freshman Courtney Jaworski timed 9:47.70 to claim a victory in the men’s distance medley relay. The women’s distance medley relay team, comprised of Sicher, McCusker, Kelly and senior Jill Laurendeau, placed third overall.

Manning, Welsh, Glackin and Najjar teamed up to earn a second-place finish in the 4 x 800m, where the group timed 7:33.40. The women’s sprint medley relay team earned Georgetown another second-place finish by crossing the line in 3:49.40.

The Virginia Invitational provided another stage for the Hoyas to shatter personal records and, in addition, the team saw two school records fall in one of the most unlikely areas.

In her debut meet, freshman Carmen Bruce, a member of the women’s basketball team and Georgetown’s first female thrower in years, set school records in the shot put (12.91m) and discus (38.96m).

“Our school records in that area were soft, but they’re not particularly soft now,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Ron Helmer said. “She’s certainly a very good athlete who’s a pretty mature competitor. When you add a really good athlete to the group in an event where we don’t have anybody, it’s going to be a big help.”

Seniors Lori-Ann Gregory and Emily Reaman also notched impressive performances, as Gregory timed 2:12.81 in the 800m, and Reaman registered 4:32.66 in the 1,500m to each set new personal records and claim Big East qualifications.

“Lori-Ann Gregory had a really nice breakthrough in the 800m,” Helmer said. “2:12.81 was a really nice job, and the same thing with Emily Reaman in the 1,500m – it was just a Big East qualifier, but it was a four or five second PR.”

Freshman Stanley Lagrenade led the men with a victory in the 800m. His time of 1:51.40 set a new personal record, and earned Georgetown another Big East qualifying mark.

Junior Andrew Nolen and sophomore Joe Bernard highlighted action in the sprints. Each athlete set personal records in the 100m and 200m, and in the process, picked up additional Big East qualifications.

“I felt like the group that we had at Virginia competed really well,” Helmer said. “We had a whole lot of people with PRs, including a lot of Big East qualifying marks – which has gotten to the point where that’s significant. Those marks are pretty tough to get to. All in all, I thought it was a pretty good weekend for us.”