Jan. 14, 2006

Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University indoor track & field team completed the first day of the Virginia Tech Invitational on Friday at the Rector Field House in Blacksburg, Va.

Highlighting the opening day activities were strong performances in the women's 300m and 1000m races. Junior Kandance Ferguson (East Elmhurst, N.Y./Milton Hershey) posted the top collegiate time in the 300m, breaking her own school-record in the process with a time of 39.45.

The Hoyas swept the top-three collegiate times in the women's 1000m, led by sophomore Maggie Infeld (University Heights, Ohio/Beaumont), who posted the second-best time in the BIG EAST so far this season at 2:49.39. Freshman Lise Ogrodnick (Quebec, Canada/Beaconsfield) followed with a BIG EAST qualifying time of 2:54.93, while senior Sabine Knothe (Dortmund, Germany/Mallinckrodt-Gymnasium) crossed in 3:00.42.

Also in women's action, junior Elizabeth Maloy (Loudonville, N.Y./The Academy of Holy Names) won the 5000m and freshman Christine Whalen (Los Gatos, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) qulaified for the BIG EAST in the 500m at 1:16.88.

In the men's events on the opening day, Georgetown had three of the top-four finishes in the 1000m race. Sophomore Matt Debole (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) led the way with the top collegiate time of 2:25.12, qualifying for both the BIG EAST and IC4A Championships. Juniors Rasheed Thompson (Herndon, Va./Herndon) and Brian Dalpiaz (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) placed third and fourth, respectively, with conference qualifying times of 2:29.00 and 2:29.20.

Freshman Terrell Gissendanner (Rochester, N.Y./Edison Tech) had an impressive day, posting two qualifying performances. In the triple jump, Gissendanner set a personal best on his way to qualifying for the IC4As with a distance of 47'2 1/2". He also qualified for the BIG EAST in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.41 in a qualifying heat.

The Hoyas complete action at the Virginia Tech Invitational on Saturday.