The time echoed in junior Michael Banks’ ears as he went into the final 400 meters of his pacing duties. “30.7.” Too slow. Having fallen off the pace a bit, he knew that he was going to have to pick it up from here on out if redshirt sophomore Andrew Bumbalough was going to have a legitimate shot at breaking four minutes in the storied mile. With his legs burning and with each second being just as precious as the last, Banks pushed all thoughts of his pain aside and only permitted his mind to think of his teammate, repeating to himself, “`I got to get Andrew through this 1200. I got to get him as close to 3:00 as possible.'” Yet with Banks’ strong effort keeping “Bumby” relaxed and composed through the first part of the race, he only needed 1100m of pacing as he rolled past Banks with 500m left to go. With the intensity building as people began to realize the potential for a sub-four minute mile, he clocked in right around 3:00 at the 1200m mark. Bumby would have to go under 60, and split his best 400 yet to go under. Digging deep within himself he kicked it up one more notch and increased the intensity all throughout the final quarter-mile, blistering down the stretch to split a 57.9 and cross the tape in 3:58.46. Despite the pressure down the stretch, the redshirt sophomore knew he had it in himself, saying, “As much as it was like `Yeah, I really have to hurt here for the next lap,’ it was exciting to get through 1200 right on pace and know that I had that extra gear and I could roll.” Bumbalough now finds himself as only the second Georgetown Hoya in indoor history to go under 4:00. The time stood as not only an automatic NCAA qualifier, but also the best to date in the 2008 indoor season. “That’s what Georgetown’s known for. That’s our bread and butter, the mile, for the last 50 years. For Andrew now to be number two on that list, in front of Olympians such as John Trautmann and Steve Holman and still only be a redshirt sophomore, is pretty darn impressive,” said an excited head coach Pat Henner. Yet for Bumby, the most exciting part is seeing people outside the sport take an interest in his accomplishments. “I guess people don’t really understand the 1500, so there’s that special thing around the mile. People have an obsession with it. The fact that’s gratifying is that people understand the accomplishment and say, `Oh, wow you ran under four!’ It’s something that people that aren’t really into track can relate to, which is the most gratifying aspect,” Bumbalough said. Along with Bumbalough’s performance, there were also a number of strong performances across the board during Yale’s Giegengack Invitational this weekend, showing the depth of both the men’s and women’s squads. On Friday night at the historic Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden, the quartet of sophomores Danny Harris and John Maloy, senior Neil Grosscup and senior Rasheed Thompson turned in a solid effort to take third in the collegiate men’s 4x800m. Harris would also come back on Saturday to win the 800m with a time of 1:53.03. In the men’s 60m hurdles, it was freshman Chris Kinney showing his consistency by turning in an 8:03, which was only few hundredths off his personal record and good for second place. In the 1000m, sophomore Alex Bean took the pace out hard and was able to hang on for the win with 2:24.72. Also finishing high for the Hoyas was freshman Toby Ulm, who finished second in the 400m running a 48.65. However, the men really displayed Georgetown’s depth in the 3000m, where the Hoyas put five runners in the top six places. Freshman Ayalew Taye led the way, taking first in 8:08.18, senior Dan Nunn was close behind in second, and sophomore Sandy Roberts, senior Justin Schied, and junior Mike Krisch, finished third and fifth respectively. While the times weren’t the fastest, Henner was pleased nonetheless to see a multitude of Blue and gray circling the track. “We were hoping for some faster times but just the fact that we had that many guys in that race is very impressive depth,” Henner said. On the women’s side, it was the distance squad that continued their impressive season, leading the Hoyas with a host of strong performances this past weekend. Sophomore Renee Tomlin (2:08.89) and senior Maggie Infled (2:09.20) reaped the benefits of senior Ashley Hubbard’s quick start to finish first and third, respectively, and both posted NCAA provisional qualifying times. Hubbard finished fourth in the race, and junior Avril Ogrodnick finished close behind for fifth place. In the mile it was the duo of senior Joanna Rodgers and sophomore Lauren Gregory who led the Hoyas and finished 1-2. In the sprints, the Hoyas had a couple of convincing performances, showing the potential for big points in the Big East meet, as sophomore Abigail Johnson took first in the 500m with at time of 1:14.38. Perhaps the biggest surprise for the women was freshman Kyla Cook’s 56.5 second split in the fourth place 4×400 team, where again potential was shown critical Big East points. In upcoming action, the Hoyas head to the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York City, where the Blue and Gray look to take on the nation’s best competition. The race to watch may be the men’s 3000m where Bumbalough, senior Matt Debole, and junior Levi Miller will take on the Big East individual cross country champion in Villanova’s Bobby Curtis, amongst a host of other talented athletes on the national stage. The meet stands as the last contest prior to the Big East Indoor Championships, and Georgetown looks to run a full squad in hopes of locking down even more NCAA qualifying times.