September 13, 2003

Great Meadow, Va. ? The Georgetown University men and women?s cross country teams opened the 2003 season with two first-place finishes this past weekend.  The GU women, ranked eighth in the nation in the FinishLynx Preseason Poll, battled the rain and mud to tie 15th-ranked Arkansas for the top spot in the Great Meadow Invitational, held Saturday, September 13, at Great Meadow, Va.  Both teams scored 17 points, followed by Yale with 80 points.  The Hoya men, ranked 13th in the country in the MONDO Preseason Poll, won a dual meet against Yale, 17-46. 

Georgetown claimed four out of the top five spots on the men?s side.  Senior Dan Tebbano (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), sophomore Fleet Hower (Marion, Va./Marion) and freshman Matt Debole (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) ran one-two-three over the four mile course.  Tebbano covered the course in 21:56.72 to take first place, just edging Hower, with a 21:56.97 mark, at the finish line.   Debole ran 21:57.25 for a third place finish in his first race as a Hoya.  Junior Chris Esselborn (The Woodlands, Tex./The Woodlands) was the fifth Hoya to score, recording 22:19.65 to garner fifth place.

Maureen Scott of Arkansas won the women?s 5K race with a time of 18:17.12, followed closely by junior Nicole Lee (Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula). Lee earned runner-up honors with a mark of 18:25.81.  Freshman Elizabeth Maloy (Loudonville, N.Y./The Academy of Holy Names) made an impressive Hoya debut with a third-place finish in 18:28.17, while senior Treniere Clement (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Monroe Falls) claimed fourth place with 18:17.12.  Senior Colleen Kelly (Maple Glen, Pa./Mt. St. Joseph Academy) rounded out the GU point scorers with an eighth-place