The distance runners continue to dominate for the Hoyas as Georgetown took home two victories at the NCAA Division I east regional championships in Randall’s Island, N.Y., last week.
Senior Rob Koborsi and junior Chris Lukezic won the 5,000 meters and the 1,500 meters respectively, just as they did early last month at the Big East championship.
Freshman Maggie Infeld also finished strong in the 1,500 meters with a fourth-place finish. In the prelude to the national championship, the Hoyas are in a strong position as their times continue to fall.
Koborsi repeated his well-worn strategy of starting back and slowly working his way up through the pack. Through the first 1,600 meters, he hovered around 10th to 12th place and then moved up to the top five during the second 1,600 meters. With 300 meters remaining, he caught the leader and, according to Assistant Coach Pat Henner, he was in control with 200 meters to go. His time of 13:51.27 was a full 20 seconds better than his time at the Big East championships – although still short of his personal record – and half a second behind the NCAA regional record, set by Richard Kiplagat of Iona College in 2003. It was the second-best time Koborsi has ever run in the event.
Over the past season, Koborsi has been steadily working on his finishing kick, and Henner said that the result of that work is becoming more and more obvious. Henner and Koborsi, along with Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Ron Helmer, have expressed confidence that a strong finish is the key to winning races.
“[A strong finish] is the logical next step for someone who has shown he can run with pretty much anyone in the country,” Helmer said.
Lukezic cut his Big East championship time by six seconds to 3:49.03. Although Lukezic dominated the race, it was a sprint to the end for the next four places as the top five finishers were all within a second of each other. The pack started at a conservative pace, and Lukezic did not take the lead until the last 200 meters. Lukezic opened up a significant cushion between himself and the pack, but the others began to close in. Henner said that was mostly due to the other competitors racing for second place and that it did not seriously threaten Lukezic.
“[Lukezic] had another gear he could have gone into,” Henner said.
Senior Tommy Manning also raced in the 1,500 meters, taking 11th place. Though it was only four seconds behind his teammate with a time of 3:53.08, his performance leaves room for improvement.
“He is still lacking in a little bit of confidence,” Henner said.
Manning has one year left of NCAA eligibility in both cross country and indoor track and will return next year as he pursues a master’s degree in liberal studies. Koborsi, who is eligible in indoor and outdoor track, is doing the same.
Exactly as Helmer predicted last month, both Koborsi and Lukezic automatically qualified for NCAA nationals, which will be held in Sacramento, Calif., on June 8.
Infeld also qualified for nationals in the 1,500 meters after a fourth-place finish at regionals. Her time of 4:26.10 was one second better than her third-place finish at the Big East championships. Among the rest of the top five finishers at Randall’s Island, N.Y., there were two seniors and two juniors; Infeld was the only underclassman. Helmer said that Infeld tries not to pay attention to her relative youth and inexperience compared to many of her competitors.
“She doesn’t worry about who she’s running against,” he said. “She just focuses on her race.”
Infeld is also the only Hoya woman to continue to nationals. After a standout freshman year, Helmer is excited about Infeld’s future.
“She’s showing that she has the potential,” he said. “One, two, three, four, five years down the road, she’s going to be as good as anyone we’ve ever had here [at Georgetown].”
The young women’s 4×400 relay team of freshman Ashley Hubbard, sophomore Kandace Ferguson, freshman Alex Baptiste and sophomore Nichole Torpey had a strong showing, finishing eleventh with a time of 3:41.00. The effort, nonetheless, fell short as South Carolina won the event with a time of 3:29.19.
Other notable finishers included sophomore Ashley Mondie, the sole Hoya on the field, who took 17th in the triple jump with a leap of 12.38 meters, a personal record. Since the triple jump is an incredibly technical event, most athletes only begin to master it as juniors or seniors, Helmer said. Mondie’s performance as a sophomore hearkens future success.
“Historically, she’ll come back next year and blossom,” Helmer said.
Senior Chris Esselborn, who finished 27th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, had a disappointing performance, according to Henner. In mid-May Helmer had predicted that Esselborn might continue to nationals if he ran an exceptional race at regionals, but that ultimately did not materialize. At the Big East championship in early May, Esselborn hit his knee on one of the steeples and was still recovering last week.
“Some experience would have been very helpful,” Helmer said. “[He is] better than what he did.”
Esselborn will have a chance to redeem himself next year when he returns with a fifth year of eligibility in both cross country and outdoor track.
Four Georgetown women also raced, but did not make it past preliminaries. Senior Kelley Otstott, sophomore Nana Hanson-Hall and junior Meghan O’Neil all ran in the 800 meters, and Ferguson participated in the 400 meters.
Infeld, Koborsi and Lukezic next head to the NCAA national championships at California State University Sacramento. Infeld is ranked 17th, while Koborsi is eighth in the 10,000 meters. Although he also qualified to race the 5,000 meters at the national meet, Koborsi decided to drop that event in favor of the 10,000 meters. He will run the 5,000 meters at the USA championships in late June.
Lukezic is currently seventh in the 1,500 meters. Last year at the USA championship, he took fourth in the event there. This year, he has the potential to break the top three.
Athletes who finish in the top three at the USA championship generally are well positioned for Olympic competition.
