The Georgetown track and field team had an impressive showing at the Fourth Annual Hoya Spiked Shoe Club Invitational for a total of 13 first place finishes in 28 events. Delaware State, La Salle, American, and Georgetown competed in the Jan. 24 meet, held on the campus of Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Md.
The Hoyas nearly doubled their seven first place finishes at the Nittany Lion Challenge, showing they are well-prepared for the championship portion of the season coming at the end of February.
Senior Matt Howard (4:11.04) won a first place finish in the one section men’s mile final where he came from behind to beat fellow Hoyas Dylan Sorenson (4:12.10) and Cole Williams (4:12.38).
The Hoyas continued to dominate in shorter distance events, with junior Tyler Smith (7.01) winning the 60-meter dash and sophomore Devante Washington (34.89) winning the 300-meter dash.
Junior John Murray (2:29.81), sophomore Michael Lederhouse (2:30.39), and junior Collin Leibold (2:30.40) swept the top three positions in the men’s 1000-meter run. A Georgetown relay team of Murray, Howard, Leibold, and sophomore Darren Fahy led the Hoyas to victory in the men’s 4-by-800 meter relay.
The jumpers for the Georgetown men, however, could not replicate the success of the runners. Junior Richard D’Ambrosio managed to win second place in the long jump with a score of 6.58 meters, but he was the highest ranked Hoya of the meet for all jumpers.
The Georgetown women’s team was also successful during the meet, particularly freshman Emma Keenan. In all of her events, Keenan moved clear of the competition, winning the 300-meter dash with a time of 41.03 and the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:14.44, beating fellow Hoya Hannah Neczypor (1:16.25) by nearly two seconds. In the 300-meter dash, Keenan defeated Georgetown sophomore Mirabel Nkenke (41.47) and senior Becca DeLoache (42.10).
The women runners of Georgetown showed their depth during the meet when several runners placed highly in the same event.
In the 1000-meter dash, the Hoyas swept the first four places. Senior Chelsea Cox finished a tight race by winning first place with a finishing time of 2:47.44, barely beating DeLoache (2:47.97), while Rachel Paul (2:58.69), and Kristen Walsh (2:58.99) waged a battle for third place.
The Georgetown women continued their winning streak in distance running with a sweep of the first three places in the 3000-meter run by junior Andrea Keklak (10:09.98), sophomore Heather Martin (10:10.63), and senior Jenna Davidner (10:11.09). Senior Taylor Doaty would also finish first in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.51.
The two relay events provided little challenge for the Georgetown women who cruised in the 4-by-400 meter relay with a team of Keklak, senior Shanique Dasilva, junior Natalie Englese, and Martin in 4:01.15, and the 4-by-800 meter relay with Cox, Neczypor, senior Joanna Stevens, and junior Annamarie Maag in 9:19.88.
Georgetown will return to State College from January 31 to Feb. 1 for the National Invitational Meet, hosted by Penn State.
