Coming off a strong showing at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships that saw the men finish first and the women tie with Villanova for first, the Georgetown cross country teams are looking for a fittingly strong finish to a successful season at next week’s NCAA tournament in Terre Haute, Ind.

Men’s cross country Assistant Coach Michael Banks believes that the No. 15 Hoyas are on the right track heading to nationals, and the best training this week will take place off the cross-country course.

“We’re going to keep working out a couple times, but it’s not going to be one that leaves them dead or exhausted,” Banks said. “A lot of [training] is going to be the mental strategy. …We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. A lot of teams get caught up in trying to do special things for races. By the end of the season [our strategy] is going to work. We’re going to see the fruits of our labor.”

But while the strategy for the Blue and Gray will remain constant, the focus on race day next week will likely adjust for the size of the field and the level of competition.

“The biggest difference is now, instead of looking at individual teams, it’s about finding the right groups of people to place in,” Banks said. “It’s more about where our guys should be during the race.”

The Hoyas will have to rely on their considerable depth and a strong finish to match up with the top teams and continue its upward trend into the top 10 in the country.

“There are so many good teams that you need to approach it based on placing, groups you want to be running in,” Banks said. “There are probably a handful of teams that are very, very good, and after that there are weaknesses in every team. If we hit it and we pick off straggling teams, we can definitely be a top-10 team, even a top-15 with just a solid performance.”

Meanwhile, the women, under Head Women’s Cross Country Coach Chris Miltenberg, seem poised to live up to the lofty expectations for the season and validate their preseason No. 1 ranking. Each runner seems to be finding her groove late in the season.

“[Senior Emily] Infeld is finding her stride again, Jones had by far the best race of the year, Richardson is back where she belongs … I think Richardson and Kasper are the two who ran really well yesterday, but they can run even better next week,” Miltenberg said. “They can be more assertive during the middle of the race.”

But perhaps most promising for the Blue and Gray is the performance of the highly-touted freshman class, all three of whom finished ahead of any other freshman runner in regionals this past weekend.

“I’m excited to see the progress they’re making,” Miltenberg said. “We might have the three best freshmen in the country.”

All season, the Hoyas have relied on veteran leadership to push the program forward, and it has been the All-American Infeld who has taken on that role.

“Balancing her personal goals and team goals has really been the learning curve for [Infeld] this year,” Miltenberg said. “I tell her, ‘you’ve got to remember how you got here.’ She loves training, she’s the most excited person on race day. … She’s always racing to win, never scared to lose.”

Looking forward, Infeld’s confidence next week and aggressiveness towards the end of the race will embody Georgetown’s strategy and dictate the Hoyas’ success. But Miltenberg knows that the season isn’t about one event — it’s about the journey to reach that final race.

“You’ve got to believe in October, because in October, it’s going to be hard. We’ve had a challenging fall and unforeseen circumstances, but [the regionals] show how they’ve persevered. No matter what happens in the next week, I’m proud of these guys. They believe in each other and what we’re doing.”