Both the Georgetown men’s and women’s track and field teams kicked off their 2002 campaigns in successful fashion this past weekend at the Terrapin Invitational held at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Center in Landover, Md. The meet’s scoring was based on individual results rather than those of the team collectively.

While the meet was not a top priority for either Hoya squad and was viewed by the coaching staff as more of a tune-up for the more important future meets, several Hoyas turned in top-five performances.

“We used this meet to see where we were and to try to get some of the kinks out,” Assistant Coach Patrick Henner said. “We’re ready _ fit _ but we’re not real sharp yet.”

On the men’s side, graduate student Josh Rollins finished second in the high jump with a mark of 6′ 9 and 3/4″. Senior Cory Smith’s time of 8:20.31 in the 3,000m run was good for second overall, and junior Dylan Welsh followed him with a time of 8:38.19 to finish fifth in the same event. Junior Wasim Greaves finished second in the 400m with a time of 49.73. Fellow junior Mike Smith was the fourth Hoya to finish second overall in an individual event as he came in with a mile time of 4:18.88.

The Hoya performances were equally strong in the men’s relay races. In the distance medley, sophomore Ali Najjar ran the mile leg, straying from his usual 400m and 800m distances to lead the Hoyas to a third place finish behind Duke and Pittsburgh. The Panthers set a new stadium record with a time of 10:21.39. The Hoya men won the 4 x 400m relay with a time of 3:19.12.

Henner pointed to the performances of graduate student Heather Blackard and sophomores Monica Hargrove and Treniere Clement as being especially noteworthy on the women’s side.

Blackard was the runner-up in the mile run at 5:09.88. Hargrove ran a time of 56.69 in the 400m to finish third. Clement also finished third in the 800m with a time of 2:14.79.

“This team has a nice mixture of girls who have gone to nationals and young people,” Henner said. “Confidence is very high.”

In the women’s relays, the Hoyas recorded two more second place finishes. They came in with times of 3:48.22 and 12:06.13 in the 4 x 400 relay and the distance medley respectively. Maryland won the 4 x 400, while Pittsburgh won the distance medley.This coming weekend the Hoyas will send runners to meets at both Rutgers and George Mason University.

Henner said many of the men and women will run events they do not normally run as a way of sharpening their skills for later in the season. He pointed to the meet at Penn State on Jan. 26 as when the Hoyas would like to be in top form and ready for the strength of their indoor schedule.

The men’s team will face Rutgers on Jan. 12.