Two athletes finished in the top-10 of their events and headlined a multitude of strong individual performances from members of the Georgetown men’s and women’s track and field teams this past weekend at the Gotham Cup in Staten Island, N.Y.
Junior Jody-Ann Knight won the women’s 200-meter dash with a personal record of 24.75, while freshman Quincey Wilson finished 10th in the men’s 400m dash, crossing the line at 49.57.
Knight’s new personal best was 0.34 of a second faster than her outdoor best and 0.43 of a second faster than her previous indoor best. This race marks the first time Knight has finished with an under-25-second time.
Associate Head Coach for track & field Alton McKenzie credited Knight’s personal best performance to her dedication and hard work.
“She’s been training consistently; she’s put the work in,” McKenzie said. “It’s just a reflection of the work that she’s put in; now she’s getting rewarded for it. She’s embraced the process of what we are trying to get her to do to run faster.”
On the men’s side, Georgetown sent its sprinters to the meet in order to gain more racing experience. Freshmen Stephen Menzia and Raehaan Poonja represented the Hoyas in the 60m dash, along with senior Kenneth Armstrong. While Menzia shaved off 0.03 seconds from his 7.31 finish he had two weekends ago in the Nittany Lion Challenge, he did not meet his personal best record of 7.18 seconds.
“We’ve used these meets to get quicker,” McKenzie said. “We need races, and we need to get race-sharp. In track and field you don’t get rewarded unless you put the work in, so for us it’s not just finding one thing specifically. It’s a body of work.”
In addition to the 60m and 200m dash, Armstrong competed in the long jump, finishing 22nd out of 55 total jumpers.
Despite not achieving his personal record, Armstrong improved upon his performance from earlier in the season, jumping 6.31 meters — 0.13m longer than his Nittany Lion Challenge finish.
“Sprinters and jumpers need competitiveness,” McKenzie said of getting his jumpers and sprinters more opportunities to compete. “They need to jump. They need to sprint to get race-sharp and get [their] technique down correctly.”
Wilson’s 10th-place finish marked a new personal best time in the 400m dash, cutting 0.01 seconds off his previous personal best, which was set at the Nittany Lion Challenge.
“Quincey Wilson, who’s a freshman, hasn’t run a lot indoors — he’s from Atlanta — so he had a chance to be on that track for the first time, get familiar with it,” McKenzie said . “He ran well, also. I think that bodes well for when he goes back there because he is getting his feet wet as well.”
The location of the meet had some added significance for the Hoyas, as the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Center is the site for this year’s Big East Championship meet at the end of February.
“We compete in that facility for the Big East Championship, so we also get familiar with the facility for some of the newcomers. We are going to jump into the deep end soon; Penn State [is] coming up and the Big East is a month away,” McKenzie said. “It’s a matter of getting race-sharp. Sprinters need races to ensure they are doing what they need to do to execute their race plan.”
The men’s and women’s teams look to improve upon their performances when they return to action this weekend in State College, Pa., for the Penn State National Open.
