March 9, 2008

Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown men's track & field team won the IC4A Championship today, held in Boston, Mass. The Hoyas led the field of 46 teams with 86 points ahead of Liberty (67), Delaware State (45), Manhattan (38) and Pittsburgh rounding out the top five with 32 points. The last time the men won the IC4A Championship was in 2002.

Picking up 10 points for the Hoyas was the 4x800 winning squad made up of sophomores Dan Leyh (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) and Kelvin Hill (Murfreesboro, Tenn./Siegel) and seniors Michael Billington (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby) and Rasheed Thompson (Herndon, Va./Herndon) that timed in at 7:29.15. The other relay squad competed in the DMR and was made up of junior Alex Mason (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy Prep), freshman Sean Suber (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha), sophomore Alex Bean (Somers, N.Y./Somers) and junior Levi Miller (Belfast, Maine/Belfast Area). The quartet placed fourth with a time of 9:51.01.

The Blue and Gray put themselves in great position with three events that featured at least two GU scorers. The Hoyas were highly successful in the 1000m with redshirt junior Michael Banks (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) finishing second with a time of 2:24.54 and senior Neil Grosscup (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest) following up right behind with a time of 2:23.70 for third place. In the 5000m, sophomore Mike Krisch (Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins) picking up third-place honors (14:07.75) while also posting an NCAA provisional qualifying time. Senior Justin Scheid (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXII) finished fifth with a time of 14:17.16. In the mile, Bean put six points on the board for Georgetown with a time of 4:08.17 for third place while freshman Ayalew Taye (Portland, Maine/Cushing Academy) followed up with a fourth-place performance (4:08.34) contributing five points of his own.

In the 55m, junior Kenny Mitchell (Atlanta, Ga./Westlake) ran the semifinals with a time of 6.37 and then shaved off three-hundredths of a second to take second place (6.34) and contribute eight points to the Hoya tally. Freshman Spenser Carter (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) took third-place honors with a time of 21.74 while classmate Chris Kinney (Stockbridge, Ga./Stockbridge) recorded a time of 7.47 in the 55m hurdle semifinal round and followed up with a 7.46 mark in the finals, good enough for fifth place. Sophomore Danny Harris (Deer Park, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) pitched in two points for the Hoyas with his seventh-place performance (1:55.90) in the 800m.

The women concluded competition at the ECAC Championship in Boston, Mass. as well this weekend with the distance medley relay squad made up of senior Joanna Rodger (Fairfax, Va./J.W. Robinson/NC State), sophomore Abigail Johnson (Willingboro, N.J./Milton Hershey [Pa.]) and seniors Ashley Hubbard (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield) and Maggie Infeld (University Heights, Ohio/Beaumont) placing fifth with an NCAA provisional mark of 11:29.36. The quartet of sophomore Sarah Wernik (Florence, Mass./Northhampton), senior Alex Baptiste (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon), and freshmen Deidra Sanders (Memphis, Tenn./Eastern) and Kyla Cook (Concord, Mass./Concord) finished the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:48.65, good enough for seventh place.

Junior Avril Ogrodnick (Beaconsfield, Quebec/Beaconsfield) put up a sixth-place performance and timed in at 2:13.27 in the 800m while Johnson finished ninth in the 400m with a time of 1:03.98.The women's track & field team finished the championship tied for 29th among 53 teams.

The indoor season will come to a close following next weekend's NCAA Championship held at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.