The Georgetown track and field team ran some very fast times at its own Hoya Spiked Shoe Club Invitational last Friday, with dominant first-place performances coming in several men’s and women’s events.
On the men’s side, several freshmen, running for both team and redshirt purposes, delivered great performances across the board. In the prelims of the 60-meter dash, freshman Devante Washington clocked a 7.14, which is a shade slower than his season best of 6.89. Washington went on to win the300m dash with a time of 34.84, setting a new meet record.
“That’s a pretty darn good time [for Washington] this early in the season,” Georgetown Director of Track and Field Patrick Henner said. “This was on a flat — not a banked — track, meaning the time should be even faster on a banked track. Devante is going to be a big-time athlete for us this year.”
Freshman distance runners also fared well at the meet, with Ahmed Bile, who ran unattached, taking first place in the 1000m. Bile clocked a time of 2:25.97, about a full second ahead of teammates senior all-American Andrew Springer and junior Michael Reher.
Darren Fahy kept up the trend of freshman dominance with his performance in the 3000m run. Fahywon the event with a time of 8:15.72, setting a meet record by edging out LaSalle senior Alfredo Santana and fellow Hoya sophomores Collin Leibold and John Murray. Fahy is currently redshirtingduring the indoor track season while concurrently training for a national cross country invitational meet. However, he was still able to record a very fast time without specific training for the 3000m, a testament to the fitness level of the Georgetown distance runners.
Other Hoya standouts included senior Bobby Peavey, who took first-place honors in the mile in 4:07; junior Billy Ledder, who finished first in the 500m in 1:04.75; and sophomore Tyler Smith, who won the60m dash in 7.06.
“The overriding theme we had in this meet was that three freshmen won three events, two setting meet records,” Henner said “Going into next weekend as well, we’re pretty optimistic that we can put up some great times again because we’re in a great place in the training.”
On the women’s side, several athletes likewise stepped up and delivered solid showings.
Senior Tenille Stoudenmire took first place in the 60m dash, clocking a 7.73 in the finals. Classmate Amanda Kimbers ran a qualifying time of 7.69 in the preliminaries of the 60m but strained a muscle in the 300m dash and was unable to come back for the finals of the 60 m.
After Kimbers’ injury, junior Deseree King took over the 300m and won the event with a time of 39.88. King was closely followed by Stoudenmire in third place, who ran a 40.79.
The Hoya women also fared well in the distance events. Senior Rachel Schneider took first place honors in the mile, running a time of 4:44.37. Schneider paced with a teammate for the first half of the race, conserving energy, keeping a consistent pace and hitting the half mile at 2:20. After the halfway mark, Schneider ran by herself with no teammates or competition near her. She was able to keep on pace for the second half and finished with a 2:24 closing half-mile, just four seconds off an even split.
“I would say that Schneider’s mile and King’s 300m were the best performances of the day. … Our women have a great shot at winning the Big East now, but we need to get Amanda Kimbers back,” Henner said. “Kimbers’ straining a hip muscle was the only downside of the meet. Once we get her back, the women will definitely be able to make a run at the Big East Championship.”
Hoya track and field will be back in action today at the Penn State Invitational in State College, Penn. Due to his strong performance last week at the Hoya Invitational, Bile will be running as a member of the Georgetown team and is no longer unattached. Additionally, freshman standout Mike Andre, who has been sick recently, will be back in action today.
“We’ve let the guys rest this week; we didn’t do too hard of workouts,” Henner said of the team’s preperation. “There will be a lot of great competition this weekend, so we’re very optimistic.”
