What a difference a week can make.

During Easter weekend, with the Georgetown track and field team competing in the Sun Angel Classic hosted by Arizona State, junior Abigail Johnson ran her most disappointing race of the season. Running the 400 meters in the fast heat amongst a talented field, Johnson, who had consistently been running in the 54- second range for the event, only managed to run 56.54, finishing last.

Her confidence shaken, Johnson turned to those who knew her best, her teammates and coaches.

“I had a horrible race; I was really upset after the meet and I talked with my coaches, and I talked with my teammates, and they told me that just because you had one bad race doesn’t mean your season is over,” Johnson said.

Taking that advice, Johnson came into her 400m race this past weekend in the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton with restored confidence and a new approach. Feeling as if she put too much pressure on herself at Arizona State to run a fast time, Johnson returned to focusing only on competing.

“I went in thinking that there was no pressure on me. … Last week I felt like I had to run a certain time, so this weekend I just wanted to compete and try and win my heat instead of focusing on the time,” she said.

This mentality paid off, as Johnson competed in the fast heat, finishing a close second to Columbia’s Sharay Hale, and running a new PR of 53.74 that stands as a regional qualifying time as well as the seventh fastest 400m in school history.

“I just went into the race more mentally prepared and more focused,” Johnson said. “I was actually really surprised because I didn’t think I ran that fast.”

“For her to come back the next race and PR, that’s fantastic,” Pat Henner, the men’s and women’s track and field director said. “That’s what we’re looking for – somebody to rebound like that.”

Graduate student Erika Moses and sophomore Deidra Sanders also performed well at the event. Moses, who was coming off of a stress fracture in her foot that she suffered at the end of the indoor season, finished third in a time of 54.77s. Sanders, who also has been nursing an injury throughout the year, ran strong to finish fifth in 56.43s.

Johnson will now look to lead the women’s 4x400m as they take on some of the nation’s best sprint programs at the historic Penn Relay Carnival this upcoming weekend. At this point in the season, with senior Buky Bamigboye tending to a hamstring injury, the lineup with Johnson will most likely be Moses, junior Sarah Wernik and freshman London Finley.

As the quartet prepares to take the big stage this weekend, Johnson made no secret of the team’s desire to qualify for the regional championship.

“We definitely want to qualify for regionals in the 4x400m and I definitely believe that we can make it happen this weekend,” Johnson said. “The faster that we run the happier that we’ll be.”

Other notes:

– Finley herself had quite the weekend, moving up in the national rankings by running a new PR of 49.49 in the 400m hurdles to take first. As only her second time running the event this season, the coaching staff has stressed that Finley has the potential to lower her time by as much as a second and put herself in a position to qualify for nationals, which would be a huge accomplishment for the freshman.

– Christine Whalen continued her impressive senior campaign, leading a host of Hoyas who notched regional times in the 1500m. Having run a superb 800m at Arizona State, Whalen finished second overall and timed in at 4:23.73. Fellow senior Avril Ogrodnick was next with a 4:24.54 mark to finish third. Junior Lauren Gregory, graduate student Carmen Ballard and freshman Katie McCafferty put the mid-distance depth on display, finishing fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. All but McCafferty, who barely missed the mark, notched regional qualifying times.

– The men could not say as much for their performance in the 1500m. Senior Mike Krisch did compete well to finish 10th in 3:49.00, but there was little else to show. Junior Sandy Roberts finished 15th, senior Justin Scheid finished 17th and many finished lower than that. While the Hoyas were not trying to run fast times due to the focus on the upcoming Penn Relay, the coaching staff hoped the Blue and Gray might have competed a little harder.

“I wasn’t real happy with the competitive effort there; it wasn’t something where we were trying to set up some real fast times, but I think we could have competed a little bit better. . They still have to get better at doing a good competitive job no matter what the situation,” Henner said.

– Sophomore Chris Kinney once again went under 14s in the 110m hurdles, running 13.84 to take first over two rival Syracuse hurdlers. Senior Terrell Gissendanner ran his best time of the season in the event as well, placing fifth with a time of 14.42. Now the Hoyas look to get their entire hurdle crew to follow Kinney’s lead.

“The rest of those guys have to start responding to the leadership that Chris is putting up; they’ve got to start now being a little more consistent and racing at a higher level,” Henner said.

– Sophomore Sean Suber had a good weekend, running his best 400m to date this season, and also coming close to his PR in the 200m by running a 21.65 to finish third overall.

– Wernik continued to stay consistent in the 100m, running a 12.21 to finish third behind two Syracuse sprinters.

– Junior Kelsey Malmquist and senior Lise Ogrodnick are still looking to notch regional qualifying 5000m times after this weekend, as the duo placed third and fifth respectively.

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