Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

TRACK AND FIELD | Teams Earn Top-10 Finishes in Villanova and Boston University Invitationals

The Georgetown track and field team spread themselves between Massachusetts and New York last Saturday, with some runners competing in Staten Island in the Villanova Invitational, and others running in Boston in the Scarlet and White Invitational.

At the Villanova Invitational, the women’s team performed well in several events, including the 200-meter dash, in which graduate student Taylor Williams came in first place, finishing with a season’s best of 24.43 seconds.

Track and field Associate Coach Alton McKenzie was pleased with Williams’ race, along with her impressive performance in the 60-meter dash. She has high expectations for Williams as she has run some of the fastest 200s on the Georgetown team.

Taylor came off a season’s best earlier in the meet running the 60-m, and it was a perfect set up for her to run a good 200m,” McKenzie said. “[Our] goal for the rest of the season is just to keep her healthy and be ready for more big performances during the championship portion of the season.”

Sophomore Lexi Del Gizzo ran strong in her first 800-meter race of the season, finishing in the top 10 with a time of 2:13.19. Her classmate, sophomore Cassidy Palmer, also performed well, finishing the 60-meter dash with a personal best of 7.73 seconds before qualifying for finals, in which she finished sixth place overall.

The men’s team had a robust performance in the 200-meter dash, with sophomores Nate Alleyne and Lawrence Leake snagging third and fourth place respectively, followed closely by freshman D’Andre Barriffe in fifth place. These three underclassmen now hold the top three times for the 200 in the Big East.

After witnessing solid performances from the team, McKenzie speculated about the future of these Hoyas.

“Our depth in the men’s 200-meter was on full display,” McKenzie said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do later in the year with Nate, Lawrence and D’Andre. It bodes well for what’s to come.”

Further up the east coast in the Scarlet and White Invitational, the Hoyas performed well in a series of events. Senior Spencer Brown finished in eighth place overall in the mile event with a time of 4:04.35, tightly followed by junior Jack Salisbury, who came in ninth place just four milliseconds behind Salisbury.

Salisbury and Brown have room for improvement before racing again this coming weekend, track and field Assistant Coach Brandon Bonsey said.

The race just went out really really slow. There was a pacer in there, but no one went with the pace. The first 200 was the slowest 200 of the race, which is not normal,” Bonsey said. “They ran really hard from 200 to 1400 [meters] and then the last lap the wheels fell off a little bit, but if they can just get in a race that’s a little bit more evenly paced, then I think that they can run quite a bit faster than what they ran.”

GUHOYAS| Sophomore Nate Alleyne sprints to the finish line. Alleyne won third place in the 200-meter dash.

Junior Joshua Bell, along with freshmen Ian Delgado and Ethan Delgado, ran strong in the 800. Bell finished in eighth place overall with a time of 1:51.34, followed closely behind by Ian Delgado, who came in ninth place with a time of 1:51.72.

Bonsey was pleased with Ian Delgado’s race and his poise so early in his collegiate career.

I think Ian is a really talented runner coming out of high school. This is his first collegiate 800-meter race, [so] I think he can get a lot better,” Bonsey said. “He was one of the top middle-distance recruits in the country and can certainly develop into one of the best middle distance runners in the NCAA.”

He was equally impressed with Bell’s 800 race, as he does not even normally run this distance.

“Bell won the heat in that race [with a new] PR in the 800, so I think he’s in great shape. He’s not an 800 runner, he just did that for some speedwork. Ethan Delgado ran a two-second PR in the 800 as well, so I thought the 800 overall was a very good event for us,” Bonsey said.

The teams will now prepare for their upcoming races this weekend, which will begin Friday, Feb. 8. They will be traveling to Ames, Iowa, to compete in the Iowa State Classic.

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