The Georgetown women came from behind last Sunday to take the Big East Indoor Championships in Akron, Ohio. Propelled by two individual champions, three medalists and a strong finish in the relays, the Hoyas won their sixth women’s indoor championship and first since 2001. The women totaled 112 points to top Notre Dame, who was second with 101.60 points. “Notre Dame was up a little bit going into the second day,” Director of Track and Field Ron Helmer said. “We got a lot of girls through qualifying, and we put pressure on Notre Dame and everybody else out there.” Junior Ashley Hubbard won the 500-meter in 1:11.56, taking home the Hoyas’ first individual title Sunday by .10 seconds. Her victory came in a particularly hard-fought heat, as the top three runners all finished within one second of each other. Senior Nana Hanson-Hall took fourth in the same event. Redshirt junior Elizabeth Maloy followed Hubbard’s performance minutes later when she took the conference title in the 3000m for the Hoyas in 9:27.30, improving upon her previously run NCAA provisional time. Georgetown boasted three other women in the top eight in the 3000m, including sophomore Lise Ogrodnick finished fourth and sophomore Natasha Labeaud took eighth. Redshirt sophomore Melissa Grelli, who took fourth in the 5000m on Saturday, finished sixth in the 3,000m. “Elizabeth probably needs to get around the 9:18 range for her NCAA time to hold up, but it was a good race for her and the rest of the girls, and we’ll be training hard in the next couple of weeks,” Helmer said. In other action for the women, sophomore Avril Ogrodnick and freshman Lauren Gregory both placed in the 1,000m. Ogrodnick finished third in 2:52.29, edging out a medalist position by .10 seconds. Gregory got the Hoyas a point with her eighth-place finish. The Hoyas notched the third-, fourth- and fifth-place spots in the women’s 800m finals. Freshman Renee Tomlin, in addition to Hanson Hall and Hubbard took the three spots and gained valuable points for the team. In the women’s mile, Georgetown again got three runners in the top eight. Graduate student Hilary Bontz placed third, while junior Joanna Rodgers and sophomore Lise Ogrodnick placed fifth and eighth, respectively. For the women, depth proved to be the pivotal factor in their victory. “We had good depth in a couple of finals that helped the women pick up some points,” said Helmer. “I projected we’d get 110 team points, and we ended up getting 112, and that turned out to be enough to win it all for the ladies.” Senior Nichole Torpey added a sixth-place finish in the 400m, while senior Ashley Mondie and junior Alex Baptiste grabbed sixth and eighth place in the triple jump, respectively. Sophomore Buky Bamigboye garnered points for Georgetown in two events. She was fourth in the Pentathlon with 3,798 points and also scored for the Hoyas in the long jump, placing fifth with a jump of 18 feet 6.5 inches, earning four points. The women picked up key points in three different relays. Freshman Abigail Johnson, Maloy, Rodgers and Bontz won the distance medley relay on Saturday, giving the Hoyas victories in the event two years running. In the women’s 4x800m, the Hoyas came in second, running their fastest time this season, 8:50.49, with the combination of Avril Ogrodnick, Bontz, Hanson-Hall and Tomlin taking the baton. In the 4x400m, Torpey, Baptiste, Johnson and Hubbard combined to finish third. “Nichole Torpey picked up a big sixth place, getting four to score in the 3000m, all the relays. There were a lot of key scoring events for the women Sunday,” Helmer said. On the men’s side, many personal bests were recorded by young runners. Finishing fourth in a highly competitive field of Big East teams was a significant accomplishment for a Georgetown team comprised of many freshmen and sophomores. The Hoyas garnered 82 points, behind Notre Dame (133.5), Louisville (131) and Uconn (105). “I predicted the men would get around 77 points, so they exceeded my expectations a little bit,” Helmer said. “We’ve got a young men’s squad that’s starting to grow.” In the men’s 1,000m, freshman Alex Bean earned medalist honors with a strong kick down the homestretch to place third in 2:26.15. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Bonsey was fifth in 2:26.78. Graduate student Stanley Lagrenade and freshman John Maloy both scored for the Hoyas in the 800m, taking fifth and eighth respectively. In the mile, redshirt sophomore Matt Debole was fourth in 4:06.15, directly followed by classmate Michael Banks in 4:07.96. Redshirt freshman Alex Mason held off two other competitors for seventh. In the 3,000m, redshirt freshman Levi iller earned all-Big East honors with a third place finish. “We’ve got so many freshmen and sophomores on the squad, and we just didn’t have enough firepower to get to that third place spot,” Helmer said. “The older guys on the squad should definitely be proud of what they’re leaving behind. They’ve done a great job themselves, and they’ve helped with the growth of the younger runners.” Sophomore Terrell Gissendanner placed third in the 60m hurdles, setting a new personal record of 8.13. Classmate and football star Kenny Mitchell placed fourth in the 60m dash, running 6.89. itchell was just shy of Pittsburgh’s Samuel Perkins, who took third by .002 seconds. Later in the day, Mitchell ran 22.12 in the 200m to finish sixth. Helmer, along with assistant coaches Pat Henner, Scott McLeod, Monica Hargrove, Hank Bradley and Ed Rice were named the Big East Conference Staff of the Year. “The men are about where the women were two years ago in terms of development,” Helmer said. “As they get older they’ll get more confident and hopefully follow the path the women did.” The Hoyas will next run at the IC4A Indoor Championships in Boston starting March 3.