The Georgetown Track and Field Team’s regular season came to an end last Saturday at the Penn Relays. The real competition heats up in post-season play beginning later this week.
“We are just now entering the part of the season that we have been trying to prepare for,” head coach Ron Helmer said. “The Big East starts that process. We’re still talking about eight weeks left of our season. The [team’s] evaluation is going to take place over the next couple of months.”
Prior to this week, most of the team’s focus has been on working to get the qualifying times needed for the Big East, Regional and National Championships. Some athletes have only competed twice this season, while others have raced multiple times. (bellarinova.com)
“We won Big East Champions indoors and we have just been going forward since then,” senior sprinter Nichole Torpey, who qualified for Big East and Regionals said. “I think everyone has worked really hard so far this year. We have a really good chance to do well at regionals and send some people to nationals.”
The team is confident that they are ready for post-season competition.
“It’s a long season, running through June and starting in March,” said graduate student distance runner Fleet Hower who qualified for Big East and the Regional Championships said. “We have been building through to the Big East season and the Championship meets.”
“Everyone wants to do really well at the Big East, since it’s our conference’s championship meet,” Torpey said. “The track team has always been one of the top teams here at Georgetown. Through the past we have had tons of Big East Championships.”
Following the Big East Championship, the team will prepare for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship, and the NCAA Regional and National Championships. A few of the elite Hoya athletes are looking to compete in the USA National Championship.
“Our perspective is we need to peak at the NCAA meet, make the finals there and hopefully go onto the USA meet,” Hower said. “That is definitely what our training is geared towards.”
This year 20 athletes qualified for the Regional Championships with some competing in more than one event, giving the Hoyas 25 opportunities to win points at the Regional level, the most the team has ever had.
“I just want to go in with an open mind and trust and expect that we are going to get great efforts from everybody across the board, and see where it takes us,” Helmer concluded. “In track and field we compete against some of the very best athletes in the country. So it is no small challenge as we move forward.”
