In March, track and field Assistant Coach Scott McLeod said that the team’s main goal this year was to qualify as many athletes as possible for the postseason.

On May 7, at the Big East Championship in Piscataway, N.J., the team answered McLeod’s challenge. The Hoya men dominated distance events, and the women gave a strong mid-distance showing.

As the outdoor season comes to a close, nearly every athlete has achieved a personal record in the past few weeks.

Senior Rod Koborsi was a standout, winning both the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters, and he shared the Outstanding Track Performer award with David Klics of Rutgers. Koborsi reclaimed the 5,000-meter title, which has thus far proved elusive for him, with a time of 14:11.17, breaking the old stadium record by a second. His closest competitor, Martin Fagan of Providence College, was five seconds behind him.

In the 10,000 meters, an event he also won as a sophomore, Koborsi won with a time of 30:14.20 – over 10 seconds in front of runner-up Joe Dionne, also of Providence. In both events, Koborsi finished strong overcoming his opponents.

“It was probably one of the most dominating performances ever seen in the Big East,” Assistant Coach Juli Henner said.

Junior Chris Lukezic successfully defended his 1,500-meter crown with a time of 3:55.96, four seconds in front of his nearest competition.

“He had such a huge lead with the final 200 meters to go that he cruised in,” Henner said.

But the title wasn’t enough for Lukezic. Later in the day he took third in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:20.58, trailing teammate Koborsi by just eight seconds. Senior Charles Millioen also raced the 5,000 meters, finishing sixth with a time of 14:39.22.

Millioen is experiencing a strong comeback after being out the past two years with injuries. In the fall during the cross country season, he could barely jog. “It’s really something special,” Henner said.

Junior Nat Glackin and senior Tommy Manning returned to successfully defend their 4 x 800-meter title from last year, along with newcomers sophomore Neil Grosscup and freshman Michael Banks. The Georgetown team took the event with a time of 7:34.88, although the mark was nearly seven seconds short of last year’s time.

Manning wrapped up his Big East career with a third-place finish in the 800 meters at 1:53.02, less than a second behind the winner, Ryan Hayden of Villanova. Junior Jesse Patterson also returned home with third place in the long jump with a mark of 22-10 1/2, matching his personal record in the event.

Other notable finishers included senior Chris Esselborn and freshman Shane Young, who took sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeple chase, and the 4 x 400 team of sophomore Jonathan Geffrard, junior Stanley Lagrenade, Patterson and freshman Winston Weatherspoon, which took fifth with a time of 3:21.12.

On the women’s side, senior Leilani Greene and the 4 x 400-meter relay team of sophomore Nichole Torpey, freshman Alex Baptiste, sophomore Kandace Ferguson and freshman Ashley Hubbard were the highest finishers, both taking second place.

Head Coach Ron Helmer was hopeful about his young women’s mid-distance squad. “They’re performing well although not yet at the level we’d expect a group to perform at an institution like Georgetown,” he said. “Recruiting in the past couple of years has been impacted negatively because of our lack of facilities, but they’ve shown that with another year or two of maturity we can expect them to perform strongly.”

Greene capped her collegiate career in the pole vault by matching her personal record height of 11-11 3/4.

Helmer praised Greene’s performance. “Given the lack of facilities, which are particularly important for the pole vault,” he said. “She really rose to the occasion.”

Freshman Maggie Infeld tied up a strong freshman season with a third-place finish in the 1,500 meters at 4:27.13. The top three finishers all crossed the line within 0.3 seconds of each other in a very tight race. Maria Muncan of Villanova won the event with a time of 4:26.48.

According to Helmer, Infeld is the top ranked under-19 1,500-meter runner in the country. “She’s a fierce competitor,” he said. “As good as any other runner in the country.”

The Hoya 4 x 800-meter relay team of junior Sabine Knothe, junior Meghan O’Neil, sophomore Nana Hanson-Hall and senior Kelley Otstott took third with a time of 8:52.75.

The 4 x 400-meter relay team finished with a time of 3:42.75.

Also returning home with a third-place finish, Ferguson finished the 400-meter dash in 54.77. Her teammate, Hubbard took fifth in the event just over a second later.

Sixth-place finishes went to Hanson-Hall in the 800-meter run, Infeld in the 5,000 meters and the 4 x 100-meter relay team of Torpey, Ferguson, freshman Ashley Mondie and Hubbard.

A week later, the Hoyas headed to the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, where Manning had a career-defining performance, winning the 800 meters with a personal record of 1:49.14 before taking second in the 1,500 meters with another personal record of 3:42.28. Both were NCAA qualifying times.

The 800-meter performance gives Manning one of the top times in the country for the event. “[Manning] put himself in with the national elite with that race,” Henner said.

Sophomore Brian Dalpiaz was a notable performer, taking second in 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:12.05, just behind Coastal Carolina’s Terah Kipchiris. Young took eighth in the event at 9:27.38.

Other notable performers for the men included Grosscup, who took 20th in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:51.92, junior Chris Bonner, who took 20th in the 400-meter dash at 47.90, and Glackin, who ran 35th in a competitive 800-meter run.

On the women’s side, the Hoya middle-distance team gave a solid performance. The 4 x 400 team of Torpey, Ferguson, Baptiste and Hubbard finished fourth with a time of 3:42.04, just over three seconds behind winner Georgia State. Infeld, Otstott and O’Neil ran seventh, eight and ninth in the 800-meter run with respective times of 2:07.86, 2:08.98 and 2:09.13.

Four Hoyas placed in the 400-meter dash, including Hubbard (19th), Ferguson (25th), Torpey (36th) and sophomore Jayne Penn (37th). Knothe finished 38th in the 1,500-meter run.

That same weekend, several Hoyas headed north to Princeton, N.J., for the IC4A/ECAC Championships, in which over 100 institutions participated.

Notable men’s performances included Millioen and junior Stephen Meinelt in the 5,000-meter run. Millioen took seventh with a time of 14:16.46, and Meinalt took 10th at 14:25.96.

Esselborn ran 13th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:06.83 and Patterson took 21st in the long jump with a leap of 6.35 meters.

Henner said he expects big things from Patterson in the future as “he begins developing into a great athlete.”

Leilani Greene represented the women, taking 11th in the pole vault.

The Hoyas next race on May 27 at the NCAA Regional Championships in Randall’s Island, N.Y. Those who qualify at regionals will then head to Sacramento, Calif., for the NCAA Championships on June 8-11, where they will finish their season.

Henner was optimistic about the men’s team’s prospects. He expects both Manning and Lukezic to qualify for nationals in the 1,500 meters. Koborsi has already qualified in the 10,000 meters and might do so for the 5,000 meters as well.

“If they all run what they’re capable of running and we’re not making any major mistakes, they they’re pretty much going to qualify,” he said.

Esselborn also has a chance of continuing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

The women’s postseason prospects are less clear. Helmer emphasized that the team is still young and said he expects one or two athletes to continue on to nationals. “We’re just going to go into regionals and see what happens there,” he said.