Hoya Staff Writer Tuesday, September 12, 2006

While it may not draw the fans that basketball does, Georgetown cross country will again compete for a Big East crown and several all-American nominations. After a successful year in which both the men’s and women’s teams contended for Big East championships, and raced in the NCAA championships to mixed success (the men finished 16th, the women, 27th), the Hoyas return a significant number of last year’s top performers as well as two newcomers to the Hilltop: graduate student and Ivy League record holder Hillary Bontz and California high school standout Natasha LaBeaud, who was a redshirt last year. While the graduation of last year’s top men’s performer, Fleet Hower (COL ’06), will be felt, junior Matthew Debole can step up to fill his shoes on the course. Last fall, Debole was stride for stride with Hower at the top of the Georgetown pack in every major race. He was Georgetown’s top finisher at the Big East championships in October, finishing third of 109 runners with a time of 24:11, a new school record. Fellow junior Daniel Nunn finished in 72nd place at the NCAA championships and after spending last year in the mix of the Hoyas’ top-five, he could emerge with Debole at the front of the Hoyas’ pack. The women’s team placed 27th out of the 31 teams at last year’s NCAA championships as well as fourth in the Big East and third in the Mid-Atlantic region. For the women, however, graduation did not take its toll. Junior Maggie Infeld is back after her stellar sophomore season running for Georgetown. Infeld led the women at the NCAA championships race with a time of 21:11, good enough for 75th in the nation. She finished tenth at the Big East championships where she led Georgetown to a fourth place finish. Maloy was also named to the All-Big East team after her performance at the Big East championships. Sophomore twins, Avril and Lise Ogrodnick both return after competitive first years. The two finished in the top 35 at the Big East championships last year. Lise had one of her better showings last year during the NCAA id-Atlantic regional tournament where she finished 41st overall and fifth among Georgetown runners. Two new faces among the women are redshirt sophomore Natasha LaBeaud and graduate student Hillary Bontz who did not use all four years of her NCAA eligibility while an undergraduate at Columbia. LaBeaud did not take the summer off after an outstanding high school career., while t Training for this upcoming season, she took first place at the U.S. Junior National Championship in the 5000m event. She leaves Folsom High School with 15 school records and five medals from California state championship meets. Bontz was a star at Columbia, where she won the Ivy League championship in the 1500m and 4x800m relay in 2005. The Hoyas ran their first race of the year last weekend at the Great eadows Invitational at The Plains, Va. The men’s and women’s teams both captured the individual and team titles. Both teams won by sizable margins with the men capturing the title by 26 points and the women by 13. The Hoyas will compete in weekend invites all season, but the two biggest races of the year will be the Big East championships on Oct. 27 and the NCAA Mid-Atlantic regional races on Nov. 11 where Georgetown will look to qualify runners for the NCAA championship to be held Nov. 20 in Terre Haute, Ind.