Hitting their stride now almost midway through the season, the Hoyas took to the Penn State National this past weekend trying to get a feel for the competitive races they will encounter when the postseason starts. On a weekend when they notched numerous NCAA qualifying times, the Blue and Gray broke a few school records along the way.
One of the biggest highlights of the weekend was sophomore Emily Infeld’s performance in the 3K, as she ran nearly four seconds under the NCAA automatic qualifying time, placing third in 9:09.24. Infeld’s 31-second personal record over last year’s time of 9:41 only adds to her résumé on the track. Yet Infeld was not without the help of her teammate and early pace-setter, graduate student Avril Ogrodnick and Georgetown alumna Liz Maloy, who pulled Infeld through the later portions of the race. Together the three worked together to help Infeld punch her ticket to Fayetteville, Ark., for the NCAA indoor championships this March.
Infeld was quick to praise her teammates, whose mere presence made the race easier for her.
“I just wanted to stay on pace and get the qualifying time,” Infeld said. “[Avril and Liz] made it easier
to concentrate, because I realized that it was going to hurt. And it felt hard.”
Georgetown’s hurdlers, who have been a growing strength of the program in recent years, had a strong weekend as well, notching two NCAA provisional times and breaking two school records in the process. On the men’s side, sophomores Kamryn Austin and Biyerem Okengwu along with freshman Justin Crawford all ran well in the 60m hurdles, timing in at 8.03, 8.13 and 8.07 respectively.
Junior Chris Kinney ran 7.84 in both the semifinals and finals to take second overall and break his own school record. Kinney, who recently came off of a hamstring injury, anticipated some tough competition but was excited to get back on the track and improve on his NCAA provisional qualifying time.
Kinney is looking to break into the 7.7 this season, and in reaching 7.84 this early, 7.79 does not look that far away.
“I could’ve gone much faster,” Kinney lamented. “Coming out of the last hurdle, I didn’t run off it like I usually do.”
On the women’s side, graduate student Nene Kamate had a record day in the 60m hurdles as well, breaking the school record in the preliminaries by running 8.44. In the semi-finals Kamate would improve on her time, running 8.39, notching an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the process. In the finals she ran 8.42, good enough for fifth place overall.
Other Highlights:
– Senior Alex Bean and graduate student Alex Mason continued their solid seasons so far by taking first and second place respectively in the 1000m. Senior Dan Leyh helped set the pace early on and then let Bean and Mason push each other over the final stretch of the race.
“We have had a sort of friendly rivalry going on this season, but it gives me that extra incentive to work harder,” Bean said.
Bean edged out Mason for the victory, and they both set personal records of of 2:23.35 and 2:23.98 respectively. Bean and Mason will have another chance to compete against one another as they both try to run a sub-four-minute mile next weekend.
– Senior Renee Tomlin had an impressive second-place finish in the 1000m place just shy of Tennessee sophomore Chanelle Price, who holds the 1000m national collegiate record. Tomlin recovered from a stress fracture last fall and still came under Infeld’s meet record with a time of 2:44.46. Tomlin and Price both went out fast and came through 800m at around 2:10. Tomlin closed hard during the last 80m but could not quite reel in Price who finished in 2:42.71.
– Graduate student and five-time All-American Andrew Bumbalough made his debut this past weekend, but things did not go as well as hoped. Having fallen ill earlier in the week, Bumbalough could only finish sixth in 4:05.88. However, in two weeks he will be heading to the University of Washington to make an attempt at the indoor 3K school record.
– In the men’s 500m, junior Toby Ulm emerged victorious with a personal record of 1:02.54, which is particularly impressive given how early it is in the season.
Head Coach Pat Henner said: “He’s going to be capable of going much faster than that and definitely has a shot at getting the school record.”
– Senior Abigail Johnson, who the Hoyas will be leaning on heavily this postseason in the sprints, PR’ed in the 500m, running 1:12.60 to finish fourth.
– The men’s team also won the distance medley race. Mason had an impressive start with a time of 2:57 in the 1200m followed by a 49s 400m by senior Chris Taylor. Bean timed in at 1:51 for the 800m leg, and sophomore Mark Dennin sealed the win with a personal record of 4:10 in the 1600m anchor leg.
– Senior Sandy Roberts, graduate student Mike Krisch and freshman Ben Furcht placed second, third and fourth respectively in the men’s 3K. With the official clock malfunctioning, graduate student Levi Miller’s pacing was thrown off, thus leading to a slow opening mile. Yet the trio ran hard over the final three laps of the race, with Roberts getting edged in the last 100m.
– Freshmen Rachel Schneider and Kirsten Kasper, and seniors Lise Ogrodnick and Renee Tomlin took home the gold in the 4x800m running 9:03.72. Schneider also competed in the open 800m where earninga strong final 200m helped her set personal record of 2:09.88 and a fifth-place finish.
– In the men’s 800m, sophomore Theon O’Connor raced his opening 800m of the year placing ninth with a time of 1:51.04, narrowly missing an NCAA provisional time.
– Graduate student Kenny Mitchell, who played football for the Hoyas for four years as an undergraduate and missed both the indoor and outdoor seasons last spring as he prepared for the NFL combine, opened his season in the 200m, placing sixth in 21.77s. He currently has the top 200m time in the Big East. “
