While the track and field world may be eagerly anticipating the NCAA Indoor Championships this upcoming weekend, the performance of the Georgetown men’s track team at the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) Championships gave a glimpse of what the Hoyas are capable of as the indoor season comes to a close. Held this past weekend in Boston, the Blue and Gray put together a collection of solid efforts to take home the IC4A Championship for the first time since 2002, placing first among the 43-team field.

Even with top distance runners junior Andrew Bumbalough and senior Matt Debole staying home to train for the upcoming nationals, the Hoyas showed their depth, dominating the distance events to place two Hoyas in the top five finishers in every event from the 1000m to the 5000m, and winning the meet by 19 points over second place Liberty University.

In the 1000m run, junior Mike Banks, using the race as a tune-up for his 800m leg in the distance medley relay at nationals, was still able to take second with a time of 2:24.54. Senior Neil Grosscup was right behind him, taking third in 2:24.70. In the mile, sophomore Alex Bean and freshman Ayalew Taye were the ones who turned in quality races, taking third and fourth respectively. Sophomore Levi Miller led the way for the Hoyas in the 3000m, taking third and narrowly missing an NCAA provisional time with an 8:05.09. Senior Dan Nunn clinched the fifth spot. In the 5000m, junior Mike Krisch and senior Justin Scheid bounced back from disappointing Big East races, running strong to take third and fifth, respectively, for the Hoyas. Krisch would post an NCAA provisional time of 14:07.75.

Krisch was quick to praise the other strengths of the Hoyas, saying, “It’s definitely cool [to win] because we’re finally building a sprint and hurdle program … with Chris Kinney, Kenny Mitchell, and Spenser Carter, it’s the first time we can really say that.”

The consistent duo of junior Mitchell and freshman Carter did perform well in the sprints, taking second and third, respectively, in the 55m dash. Carter would go on to take third in the 200m with a time of 21.74 seconds. Freshman Chris Kinney took fifth in the 60m hurdles.

The Blue and Gray also fared well in the relays with the 4x800m relay team of sophomores Kelvin Hill and Dan Leyh and seniors Rasheed Thompson and Michael Billington taking top honors with a time of 7:29.15. The distance medley relay team took fifth among the 28-field team.

Looking ahead to the upcoming NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., the Hoyas will be sending some of its top runners to face off against the nation’s best. Bumbalough and Debole will both race a talented field in the 3000m headed by senior Bobby Curtis of Villanova. Among the competitors is the NCAA cross country champion senior Josh McDougal of Liberty. Bumbalough comes into the tournament with the seventh fastest time overall this season, while Debole is ranked 16th.

“It’s definitely going to be a dogfight, there’re a lot of good guys…obviously we want to finish as high as we can,” said Bumbalough.

Also for the men is the distance medley relay team of Debole running the 1200, sophomore Danny Harris with the 400 leg, Banks on the 800m, and anchor Bumbalough who, in order to be fresh for the relay, passed up a chance to compete in the individual mile where his 3:58.46 stood as the nation’s best.

On the women’s side senior Liz Maloy will compete in the mile and junior Melissa Grelli in the 5000m for Georgetown. Maloy put up a time of 4:41.48 in the mile this past weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational to qualify, which stands as the 14th fastest coming into the race.

Grelli looks to go up against the top distance women in the nation, including NCAA cross country champion junior Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech, to whom Grelli finished a close runner up to in the 10K at outdoor nationals.

Grelli explained, “We’re using indoor as a stepping stone for outdoor, but it’s always a goal to get a PR, so I’m hoping that happens. We’re looking forward to running like Hoyas and doing our best.”

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