By Scott Homa Hoya Staff Writer
Building upon the success of their three local opening meets, the Georgetown men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Piscataway, N.J. last weekend to compete at the Rutgers Invitational, where both teams continued to record post-season qualifying times.
In a quad meet against Rutgers, the University of New Haven and the College of New Jersey, the Hoyas dominated almost every facet of the competition, taking 14 first place finishes and qualifying 16 athletes for the IC4A, ECAC and Big East Championships.
Both teams had especially strong showings in the 1000-meter run. The men achieved five IC4A qualifying times in the race, including junior Chris Miltenberg’s winning mark of 2:26.2.
“Chris ran a gutsy race up front for us,” Associate Head Coach Andrew Valmon said. “He set the tempo for the race, and everyone followed him.”
Freshman Jesse O’Connell (2:26.5) and sophomores Dylan Welsh (2:26.7) and Ezra Richards (2:27.0) took the next three spots of the race and qualified for the IC4A’s. Junior Jeff Reinhardt’s time of 2:28.0 earned him sixth place and made him the Hoyas’ fifth post-season qualifier in the event.
The women also swept the first three spots in the 1000-meter run, led by sophomore Carly Nuzbach’s time of 3:01.6. Sophomore Emily Reaman and senior Kate Crowley followed closely behind, with times of 3:03.4 and 3:05.5, respectively.
Nuzbach and Crowley, along with senior Lorena Adams, also helped the Hoyas take the top three spots in the mile run. Adams led the group with her 5:02.0 mark, while Nuzbach (5:08.7) and Crowley (5:17.3) ran two and three for the Hoyas.
Adams later posted an ECAC qualifying time in the 3000-meter run, in which she timed 10:03.7 to win the race.
Freshman Treniere Clement also produced a pair of dazzling performances, winning the 800-meter run in a qualifying time of 2:13.9 and then returning to run a leg for Georgetown’s winning 4 x 800-meter relay team. The relay team, consisting of Clement, Reaman, sophomore Jill Laurendeau and senior Melissa Richardson, also qualified for the ECAC Championship.
The men’s 4 x 800 and both the men’s and women’s 4 x 400-meter relay teams also took first place finishes in their competitions but fell just below the post-season qualifying standards.
The men’s 400-meter dash and 500- and 800-meter runs qualified six additional Hoyas for the IC4A Championship.
In the 400-meter dash, sophomore Robert Wingate-Robinson, a tailback and kick returner for the football team during the fall, timed 48.5 to take first and qualify for the IC4A and Big East Championships.
“Robert gave a great effort,” Coach Valmon said. “Considering he is coming back from football season, to qualify for the IC4A’s in his first race of the year was a very good run.”
Junior Hakim Johnson took second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.1 to meet IC4A qualifying standards.
Senior Nick Reynolds and sophomore James Graham ran one-two in the finals of the 500-meter run and earned the Hoyas another pair of IC4A qualifying times. Reynolds crossed the line in 1:04.3 for first, and Graham followed in a time 1:04.6.
In the 800-meter run, senior Isidro Pimentel and junior Matt Henry finished second and third, timing 1:52.9 and 1:53.3, respectively, also qualifying for the IC4A meet.
With the Hoyas’ number of post-season qualifiers increasing rapidly with every meet, the teams will travel again this weekend, the men to Annapolis, Md. for the Navy Invitational and the women to Blacksburg, Va. for the Virginia Tech Invitational, in hopes of garnering more championship-qualifying times.
