The Georgetown track and field program branched out this weekend, sending runners to several prominent track meets and turning in some noteworthy performances in the process.

Heading this impressive drive was the Hoya men’s distance medley relay team that traveled to the Adidas Boston Indoor Games. The relay, comprised of senior Jesse O’Connell, senior James Graham, senior Ezra Richards and sophomore Chris Lukezic, combined for a very fast 9:36.93, the third-fastest time in the country this year. Even though they finished second to Villanova, which won the race in 9:34.73, the relay squad qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

“I was very pleased with the way the relay went. The legs were even, we didn’t have any bad legs,” Director of Track and Field Ron Helmer said. “This is a very good start of the season with respects to the DMR.”

This performance ranks as third-best indoor DMR in Georgetown history and the fastest mark for a meet this early in the season.

Also competing in Boston, senior Nicole Lee competed in the 5,000m at the Terrier Classic. Lee ran a breakthrough race as she significantly improved her personal best time, finishing in 16:42.88.

A little ways south and west, a number of runners competed at the Penn State Invitational in University Park, Penn. Freshman Elizabeth Maloy made her impressive indoor collegiate debut with a mile run of 4:50.22, which would earn her runner-up honors. Maloy, who sat out the end of the cross country season due to injury, just missed the NCAA provisional qualifying mark. In the same race, junior Jodee Adams-Moore followed Maloy in the same event with a Big East qualifying time of 5:06.26. In the 800m run, senior Maura cCusker sped to a sixth-place finish of 2:10.18 while junior Kellet Otstott and freshman Nana Hanson-Hall finished the same race with Big East Qualifying times of 2:14.30 and 2:15.23, respectively. Senior Amanda Pape led a pack of Hoyas in the 3,000m run with her first place finish of 9:42.60. In the pack were grad student Marni Kruppa and sophomore Sabine Knothe, who also ran to top 10-finishes.

Other strong performances were turned in by sophomore Meghan O’Neil and senior Rose Wetzel in the 1,000m run. Senior onica Hargrove showed signs of a strong senior campaign as she ran well in the 200m dash and anchored the 1,600-meter relay with an impressive 400m split of 53.2. Joining her on the team were of freshmen Jayne Penn, Kandace Ferguson and Hanson-Hall. The relay finished third in a time of 3:43.76.

“This was a nice step-up in the sprints that I liked, especially Monica’s leg which was impressive,” Helmer said.

On the men’s side at Penn State, freshman Brian Dalpiaz starred as he garnered a sixth-place finish in the 3,000m run in a time of 8:20.65. Freshman Matt Debole also raced to a quick fourth-place finish 2:26.61 in the 1,000m run. Junior Nat Glackin finished behind Debole in 2:29.83. Debole and Glacking both finished under the Big East Qualifying standard. The remaining portion of the team stayed on campus to train for some big races next weekend, including the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame and the Intercollegiate Invitational at George Mason.