Andreas Jeninga/The Hoya

Sport: Track and Cross Country

Events: 800m, 1,500m, mile

Hometown: Dortmund, Germany

High School: Mallinckrodt-Gymnasium, Germany

School/Year: MSB ’06

Majors: Finance and International Business

Minor: French

High School Highlights: Earned third and fourth-place finishes in the 1,500m run at the U20 and U23 German Outdoor Championships in 2002 . Finished second outdoors and third indoors in the 1,500m at the 2001 U20 German Championships . Took fifth place in the 800m run at the U23 German Championships in 2001 . Ran to a 13th-place finish in the 1,500m at the 2001 U20 European Outdoor Championships . Turned in an eighth-place finish at the 2000 U18 Junior Cross Country Championships . Finished third in the 1,500m at the U18 Junior Outdoor Championships.

Georgetown Highlights: 2003: Earned All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the distance medley relay … Claimed the Big East Championship in the distance medley relay and placed fourth in the mile (4:57.52) … Won the 3,200-meter relay (8:49.83) and placed sixth in the 800m (2:11.45) at the Florida Relays … Claimed fourth place in the 1,000m (2:54.60) at the Virginia Tech Invitational … Finished fifth on the team and 14th overall at the George Washington Cross Country Invitational. 2002: Won the 800m (2:21.6) at the Rutgers Invitational … Finished fifth in the mile (5:11.3) at the Rutgers Invitational … Member of the winning 4×800-meter relay team (9:02.43) at the Penn State National Open … Timed 4:59.24 in the mile at the Armory Invitational for fourth place.

When did you become serious about running? When I was 16. I was in a club in Germany – we don’t have sports teams at school. In Germany, you go to school and after you do whatever you want, so I joined a running club.

Biggest adjustment you had to make coming to the United States from Germany: The outlooks are totally different, and I had to get used to the new system and the new language, and to American food.

Thing you miss most about Germany: My family and friends from high school. I see them over Christmas and then over the summer.

Biggest obstacle you have had to overcome: I would say the language barrier at the beginning. School English is very different from the slang, so I had to get used to the informal language.

Greatest non-sports related achievement: I won a competition in Germany playing the piano – I was really proud of it. My whole city competed against each other and I got second place. I started playing the piano when I was 6, and now I just play when I go home; I don’t have a piano here.

Where do you hope to be five years from now? aybe somewhere in Europe. I want to do something related to sports, like sports marketing or sports management. Actually, I want to go to the Olympic Games, but if not, then something related to sports.

If your house were on fire, what is one thing you would grab with you? That’s a bad question, because it really happened to me when I was 5. And I couldn’t grab anything. I just grabbed a blanket because it was freezing outside. I couldn’t go outside, but I went to the balcony and we waited for the fire department. When they came, they got a ladder and we all climbed down. Everyone survived, but the house didn’t.

What are your hobbies or do you have any collections? I love anything related to nature: rock climbing, mountain biking, wind surfing. But I don’t collect anything.

Have you ever met anyone famous? I did not really meet the pope, but I was about one meter away from him. I was in Rome for World Youth Day, and I climbed over the security fences so I was right next to him. I didn’t talk to him, though.

How did you decide to come to Georgetown? I thought it was a great combination of academics and running. In Germany, after high school, you decide to go to college or join a sports team. You don’t compete for your college, and I really like that about America. Plus, I had a great time with Juli Henner, my coach, when she came to visit me.

If you could have dinner with any one person, who would it be and why? I think many athletes would say Lance Armstrong, just to get inspired by him.

If you could trade places with one person for a day, who would it be and why? I’d want to be a famous Hollywood star like Julia Roberts.

Favorite thing about running: You can talk to people the whole time while you’re running. Before track, I swam and it was so boring because you couldn’t talk. And to run, you just need shoes, nothing else – you can just run anywhere.

Best Georgetown memory: My first day here in America at convocation. It was totally different from in Germany when you join college. I liked to wear the robe, and I liked the whole ceremony. That, and then my first National Championship in Arkansas.

If you could relive one moment in your life, what would it be and why? The moment when I qualified for the Junior European Championships, when I crossed the finish line and I knew I hit the time.

If you could have any one superpower, what would it be and why? Flying. I like traveling, so I could go from place to place.

Favorite movie: Miracle

Least favorite movie: Memento

Best thing you know how to cook: I learned to cook Thai food. My friend showed me how to cook it.

Favorite home-cooked German meal: Sauerkraut with potatoes and cheese and beef in it.

Biggest pet peeve: Fake people that just try to be different than they actually are.

Person who knows you the best: My sister, Christina – she’s just one year older. She’s in Germany studying.

One goal for before graduation: I want to taste all the ice-cream flavors at Thomas Sweet. So far I’m not doing that bad, let me say that.

Ideal vacation: It would be in nature, in the mountains doing river rafting, mountain biking, hiking.

Favorite place to eat in Georgetown: In the Georgetown mall where you can get sushi, Benihana.

Most interesting place you’ve traveled to: Peru, it was my first trip out of Europe. We went to the jungle and then to the lost tower, Machu Picchu, and into Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world. It was great.

Who has had the greatest impact on your life? aybe the way my sister’s living – just enjoying the time right now, staying focused but at the same time having fun, and living more in the present than the future.

One thing a lot of people don’t know about you: I’m addicted to chocolate.

One thing that always puts you in a good mood: usic. Or the day after I run a personal record.

Favorite way to relax: Just being outside, lying in the sun getting tanned.

One piece of advice you’d give to an incoming freshman: Never give up. And have fun.

What’s under your bed right now? Millions of crickets. I can’t get rid of them.