April 6, 2008

Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University track and field team split sites this weekend with a handful of student-athletes traveling to Palo Alto, Calif. for the Stanford Invitational while the majority traveled to Williamsburg, Va. for the Colonial Relays, held by the University of William & Mary. Five student-athletes donning the Blue and Gray clinched NCAA Regional times at the Stanford Invitational while two more hit provisional marks. At the Colonial Relays, the women placed fifth of 21 teams with 70 points behind Michigan State (124), Seton Hall (112), William & Mary (101) and James Madison (72.33). The men finished 14th of 20 teams.

At the Stanford Invitational senior Matt Debole (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) hit an NCAA Regional mark in the 1500m with a time of 3:43.89 to take fourth place. DeBole added another qualifying time with his 1:50.48 performance in the 800m as he qualified for both the BIG EAST and IC4A Championship.

The 3000m steeplechase saw astounding performances from senior Michael Banks (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) and junior Alex Mason (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy Prep) with respective times of 9:03.54 and 9:05.66, both NCAA Regional qualifying times in addition to BE and IC4A. Banks added another event to the postseason when he qualified for the BIG EAST Championship in the 1500m with a time of 3:52.48.

Junior Andrew Bumbalough (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood Academy) added another NCAA Regional time to the bunch with his 13:41.47 performance in the 5000m. Freshman Ayalew Taye (Portland, Maine/Cushing Academy) also competed in the 5000m with a time of 14:19.34 to add to his postseason repertoire in the BE and IC4A.

Senior Melissa Grelli (Cupertino, Calif./Presentation) was the fifth Hoya student-athlete to add the NCAA Regional to the postseason as she hit an automatic qualifying time in the 10,000m with a time of 33:19.60. In the same event, junior Natasha LaBeaud (Folsom, Calif./Folsom) hit BE and ECAC marks with a time of 35:11.72.

Senior Daniel Nunn (San Luis Obispo, Calif./San Luis Obispo) and junior Mike Krisch (Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins) both posted NCAA Regional provisional times with 28:51.96 and 29:10.13 performances, respectively. In the same event, senior Justin Scheid (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXII) qualified for the BE and IC4A Championship with a time of 30:18.75.

Seniors Rasheed Thompson (Herndon, Va./Herndon) and Neil Grosscup (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest) both competed in the 800m and 1500m. In the 1500m, Thompson turned in a time of 2:38.99 to qualify for the BE and IC4A while Grosscup hit a mark of 3:49.19 to also qualify for both events. In the 800m, both qualified for the BE Championship with times of 1:52.73 (Thompson) and 1:53.25 (Grosscup).

At the Colonial Relays, the 4x800m relay team made up of senior Maggie Infeld (University Heights, Ohio/Beaumont), graduate student Elizabeth Maloy (Loudonville, N.Y./Academy of Holy Names), senior Ashley Hubbard (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield) and senior Joanna Rodgers (Fairfax, Va./J.W. Robinson/NC State) hit an ECAC mark with its first-place 8:51.12 performance. Also qualifying for the ECAC Championship was the 4x100m relay squad made up of junior Charlena Tillett (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck), senior Alex Baptiste (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon), Hubbard and sophomore Abigail Johnson (Willingboro, N.J./Milton Hershey [Pa.]) when they timed in at 48.13.

The third-place squad including sophomore Lauren Gregory (Denville, N.J./Morris Knolls), graduate student Lauren Hendrick (Solomons, Md./Patuxent/Columbia), graduate student Daniella Padilla (Westlake Village, Calif./Westlake/Columbia) and junior Christine Whalen (Los Gatos, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) finished third in the DMR with a time of 11:57.33. The third-place 4x200m relay team made up of Johnson, freshman Kyla Cook (Concord, Mass./Concord Carlisle), Hubbard and freshman Deidra Sanders (Memphis, Tenn./Eastern) timed in at 1:41.99.

In the men's 4x800m, the quartet of sophomore Danny Harris (Deer Park, N.Y./St. John the Baptist), sophomore John Maloy (Loudonville, N.Y./Shaker), sophomore Dan Leyh (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) and senior Brandon Bonsey (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth) timed in at 7:37.11 to qualify for the IC4A Championship.

Perhaps the most impressive event on the women's side was the 800m when Rodgers finished first with a time of 2:10.37 (BE, ECAC qualifying time) followed by Infeld in second (2:11.55 - BE), Hubbard in fourth (2:12.16 - BE) and Maloy in sixth (2:13.61 - BE).

In the 1500m a pair of Hoyas qualified for the postseason as sophomore Renee Tomlin (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) and junior Avril Ogrodnick (Beaconsfield, Quebec/Beaconsfield) with respective times of 4:32.29 and 4:32.63, to qualify for both the BIG EAST and ECAC Championships. Sophomore Sarah Wernik (Florence, Mass./Northhampton) added a pair of BE qualifying times with a 25.02 performance in the 200m and a seventh-place 12.28 time in the 100m prelims. She went on to finish seventh in the final heat of the event.

Johnson finished third in the 400m with a time of 56.34 to qualify for the BE and ECAC Championships while Baptiste took home a first-place performance in the triple jump with her BIG EAST qualifying mark of 11.66m.

In the men's 110m high hurdles, freshman Chris Kinney (Stockbridge, Ga./Stockbridge) timed in at 14:33 in the prelims to qualify for the BE and IC4A and finished second in the final heat with a time of 14:45. Finishing third in the 3000m steeplechase, senior Shane Young (Reston, Va./Herndon) qualified for the BE and IC4A Championships with a time of 9:08.08. Also qualifying for both postseason events was freshman Spenser Carter (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) with a third-place 10.74 time in the 100m prelims.

Georgetown returns to competition on April 11-12 when they compete in the Sea Ray Relay in Knoxville, Tenn. They will also participate in the UVA Invitational on Saturday, April 12.