As Georgetown’s men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to the Sun Angel Classic at Arizona State this past weekend, sophomore hurdler Chris Kinney was in the dark. With the Hoyas racing primarily on the East Coast throughout the year, Kinney was unfamiliar with the competition that he might line up against in the 110 meter hurdles.

“I had no clue who I was racing against,” he said. “I’m going to the West Coast. I don’t know anybody over there, what kind of times they are putting down.”

Unbeknownst to Kinney, toeing the line with him would be Asics-sponsored Jared MacLeod, a top Canadian hurdler who placed second in 2007 in the 110m hurdles at the Canadian National Championships. Selim Nurudeen of Nigeria – a 2008 Beijing Olympian – would be facing Kinney as well. Finally, one of the top hurdling recruits in Kinney’s class, USC sophomore Oscar Spurlock, was racing for the win, too. All three had run at least in the 13.7-second range with MacLeod and Nurudeen both having gone 13.5 seconds. Kinney had never broken 14.

No matter.

With the program’s focus on competing hard rather than running fast times, Kinney, far from being intimidated, was only thinking about winning.

“I have a hundred things that go through my mind before the race goes off. Just like, `O.K., well, I gotta run, I gotta get out, I gotta focus on this, I gotta do that.’ When the gun went off, I was ready to race, I was racing to win. Actually I wasn’t even trying to run for a time – I was just thinking in my head that I gotta get these people,” Kinney said.

Head Coach Pat Henner added, “That’s a very important element that we’re stressing with everybody. If you’re just focusing on time, then you might be beaten before the gun even goes off.”

As the gun went off, Kinney, in lane four, got off the blocks quick, but not as fast as Spurlock, who was beside him in lane three. Yet Kinney quickly made up the deficit and after the fourth hurdle was even with Spurlock, with MacLeod in lane five, and Nurudeen in lane six, right behind them.

“I felt the people beside me, and I kinda wanted to push away from them, so I just kinda stayed relaxed and ran my race,” Kinney said.

As Spurlock faded, Kinney pushed away indeed, leaving MacLeod and Nurudeen behind to take the race, crossing the line first and breaking his own school record by posting a 13.77, a marked improvement from his previous best mark of 14.06.

For Kinney, such a significant drop in time caught him off-guard, as he was only competing to win.

“I came through the finish line and I saw 13.77 on the scoreboard, and I was just kinda like, `Oh! I was not expecting that!'”

With his time easily making the regional mark and placing him sixth on the NCAA’s top performance list for the outdoor season, Kinney will continue to focus on competing in order to qualify for nationals in a little over a month.

“When you run for times, I feel like you’re never going to run the times you want,” he said. “If you run just to compete and win, the times will come. Now I’m just trying to keep that in mind.”

While Kinney has become the face of an emerging hurdling program at Georgetown, the group in general had an outstanding weekend for the Hoyas. On the men’s side, redshirt freshman Toby Ulm flashed the potential to score at nationals, blazing a 50.26 in the 400m hurdles in sub-par conditions to place second to 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Bershawn Jackson. Ulm’s time now stands as the sixth fastest nationally to date this season.

“I was very pleased,” Henner said. “I thought he ran very aggressively but at the same time stayed under control and finished strong. That was a fantastic start for Toby.”

For the women, freshman London Finley, in her first 400m hurdles race ever, notched yet another NCAA regional qualifying time by taking fifth with a 59.80. Senior teammate Buky Bamigboye, who also finished fourth in the long jump, ran the event for the first time in over two years and joined Finley in qualifying for regionals by running a 60.19 to place sixth.

Senior Christine Whalen, adding to an already impressive outdoor season, ran particularly strong in the 800m where she took fifth and qualified for the NCAA regional by clocking in at 2:07.51.

“I was really pleased with her,” Henner said. “It’s been a long time coming, but she stuck with it and to run 2:07 – we were really happy with that.”

Another meet brought another great showing by the women’s mid-distance program as five individuals qualified for the regionals in the 1500m. In the Premiere University heat, senior Maggie Infeld led the way for the Blue and Gray, posting a regional mark of 4:17.83 to place fourth. Redshirt sophomore Renee Tomlin and freshman Emily Infeld were right behind, placing fifth and sixth respectively, posting regional qualifying times of 4:18.45 and 4:19.15. In the B-heat, junior Lauren Gregory and senior Avril Ogrodnick qualified for the meet as well. The Hoyas now have three runners in the top nine nationally, in Maggie Infeld (fifth), Tomlin (seventh) and Emily Infeld (ninth).

In a crowded field that saw a lot of bumping and shoving, junior John Maloy ran his best 800m of the season, clocking a 1:49.21 to place sixth and qualify for the NCAA regional championships. His time now stands as the ninth-best in the nation.

Senior Liam Boylan-Pett continued his near perfect outdoor season by besting the 1500m field with a NCAA regional qualifying time of 3:42.59 that stands as the third fastest time nationally to date. He notched the impressive time, even though the pace slowed to 63s on the second lap, evidence that he can go even faster.

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