Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Kinney, Mitchell Pace Hoyas At Big East Championships

One of the most competitive tournaments in the nation, the Big East Championships, took place with 16 schools from the conference this past weekend. The Hoyas stormed the track at the Big East Championships and had a strong outing. The men scored second in the conference, and the women placed fifth overall.

The men’s team overwhelmed the competition, only emphasizing how deep the Hoyas’ team really goes. Junior Chris Kinney and graduate student Kenny Mitchell had exceptional performances and both earned Big East titles in their individual events.

Kinney once again showed his consistency and improvement throughout this indoor season. He ran a 7.83 in both the prelims and finals of the 60 meter hurdles. Rutgers and Syracuse both fielded dangerous competitors, but neither school’s entrant was good enough to top Kinney who set a personal record and broke his own school record.

“I tried to psyche myself up for the final,” Kinney said.

It turned out to be his weekend. In the finals, Syracuse took the early lead and was about a step ahead of Kinney, but Kinney started pressing and eventually overtook the Syracuse runner and cruised to the finish.

itchell showed the Big East that he still dominates the sprints, running an awesome time in the 60 meter dash. Mitchell hoped to win the 60m dash once again, but a few unfortunate events, including a malfunctioning starter’s gun, forced the runners to restart the race three times may have disrupted his focus. Even then, he still placed second with a great time of 6.77, but the bigger story was his win in the 200m dash where he earned himself a personal record and a new school record of 21.34. He was all the way in the fifth lane and stayed with his opponent in the sixth lane who was in the lead. With 80 meters to go, Mitchell overtook him and it was his race from there.

“It was pretty special to go down as one of the best sprinters in Georgetown history,” Mitchell said. “That wasn’t really one of my goals coming into college but it’s pretty special to have my name in the record books.”

Another strong competitor among the Hoyas’ sprinters, junior Toby Ulm, ran remarkably well this past weekend. He won his preliminary heat in the 500m and came into the finals expecting Rutgers to be his main competition. The game plan was to be in the lead at the end of the 200m, but Rutgers came out fast and ran through 400m in about 48 seconds. In a last-ditch effort, Ulm tried to catch Rutgers down the last 100 meters but could not overtake his opponent, who ran his best time of the season. Ulm ran a phenomenal 1:01.62 earning a new personal record, school record, and also a British national indoor record.

“I kicked with about 100 to go and didn’t die, which was interesting,” Toby said as he recapped the race.

The women’s distance medley relay team, which has continued to show its strength in recent weeks, placed second behind Villanova. But this race had some complications as Coach Chris Miltenberg didn’t want to tire out his girls. Sophomore Emily Infeld and seniors Renee Tomlin and Sarah Wernik had all raced about an hour and a half earlier.

Villanova and West Virginia provided their toughest competition. The three schools battled it out for the championship, but the Hoyas just fell short. Senior Lauren Gregory, who has recently come off a foot injury from the end of the cross country season, led off and ran a 3:30 right behind Villanova and West Virginia. Wernik followed behind but gave up some ground running at 56.8 in the 400m, where Villanova gained a sustainable lead.

But Tomlin went out very aggressively and tried to close the gap between Villanova, overtaking West Virginia in the process. The baton was passed to Infeld with about a three-second gap between Georgetown and Villanova, but it was West Virginia that made a push and overtook Infeld. With about 300 meters to go, Infeld reclaimed the Hoyas’ lead over the Mountaineers – slowly closing the gap on Villanova – but their lead was just too much. The Hoyas ran 11:13.10 and broke their own Big East record from last year, but were unable to come out on top.

Other Highlights:

– Freshman Rachel Schneider stuck close to the top three finishers in the 1000m, running one her best races of the season this past weekend. Fellow teammate Infeld narrowly beat out Schneider, placing third in 2:48, while Schneider crossed in fourth at 2:48.44.

– Freshman Emily Jones, who has always been a strong distance runner, accomplished an impressive feat two weeks ago. The snow storms that shut down Georgetown and D.C. prevented Jones from catching a flight out to Spokane, Wash., to race in the U.S.A. Junior Nationals Cross Country race. Luckily, however, she found a flight Friday afternoon, the day before the race but was only able to get a few hours of sleep. After a stressful week, she ran the 6K the next morning that consisted of three 2K loops. Even with all the distractions, she placed fourth, earning her a spot on the Junior National Team that will travel to the World Junior Championships in Poland later this year.

– In the 800m, sophomore Theon O’Connor placed third and ran a 1:52.53. He finished strong, but was not able to position himself right, hurting his chance of winning a Big East title.

“He just needs to give himself a chance to win because Theon’s a big-time athlete,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Pat Henner said.

– The women had a disappointing outing in the 4×800 running an 8:47.69 and placing fourth. Sophomore Lauren Borduin led off but got caught up in traffic and could not get up to the front, forcing the Hoyas to play catch up for the next three legs. Schneider ran a 2:12, followed by Infeld’s 2:10. Even without a victory in sight, Tomlin anchored strong and ran aggressively in a situation where she couldn’t win, finishing with an impressive 2:09.

“In the 800m relay in the Big East, it’s really competitive and we’ve got to get up front from the start,” Miltenberg said.

– The women’s 4x400m team came out strong this past weekend placing second with a time of 3:41.67. Although it wasn’t as fast as expected, Wernik led off followed by sophomore London Finley (her fifth race of the weekend) and freshman Amanda Kimbers. Senior Abigail Johnson went out aggressively and anchored the race, concluding the girls’ great performance.

– Johnson is the women’s star sprinter as she ran a 53.64 in 400m dash and came in second, just narrowly missing out on the win. She attacked from the beginning, hoping to win herself a Big East title, and stayed close to the Notre Dame sprinter. Her aggressiveness paid off and she ran a personal best in the final.

– The Hoyas expected to pull out a victory in the 4×800 in the Big East Championship, but this time around the men’s 4×800 placed in a disappointing fourth with a time of 7:32.73. The relay was led off by graduate student Alex Mason followed by freshman Brian Hencke, O’Connor, and anchored by senior Alex Bean. ”

 

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