WASHINGTON - Highlighted by a speech from Winter Olympian Chris Kinney (C'11), Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia hosted the annual Captains & Coaches Dinner at Riggs Library on Monday evening. The annual dinner brings together the team captains and head coaches for Georgetown's 29 intercollegiate sports.

"It's an honor for us to be able to celebrate you and to have this chance to express our appreciation for everything that you mean to this place," said DeGioia. "We honor you tonight and express our profound gratitude for your leadership."

The evening was highlighted by a speech from Kinney, a former Hoya track & field All-American. Kinney was a standout athlete on the track & field team during his four-year career. A four-time All-American, he earned a pair of honors in the indoor 60-meter hurdles and the outdoor 110-meter high hurdles. He was a three-time BIG EAST champion, claiming titles in the 2009 outdoor 110-meter high hurdles and the 2010 and 2011 indoor 60-meter hurdles. He still holds the Georgetown program record in both the 60-meter hurdles (7.75 seconds) and the 110-meter high hurdles (13.75 seconds).

Kinney was the first Winter Olympian in Georgetown University's history. Kinney made his first national team during 2016-17. Before taking up bobsled as a sport, Kinney ran track professionally in Japan.

"I take pride in being a Hoya," said Kinney. "We're such a diverse and driven group of people, and it still gives me goosebumps to this day when I hear the chant `Hoya Saxa' which was actually the chant I heard through the thundering crowd in Pyeongchang."

Kinney stressed how his time on the Hilltop set the stage for him to achieve his Olympic dreams.

"It seems like making the team would be a journey taken alone, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Without the support of my coach, my fellow Hoyas and my family and friends that came to cheer me on, my childhood dream would never have become a reality. It was truly a collaborative effort that started here, 11 years ago, on this campus. For these reasons, whenever I hear the phrase Hoya Saxa, it will always hold a special meaning in my heart because the dream of becoming an Olympian became a realistic goal right here. The athletes here now chasing their dreams, whether it be career driven in the professional world or athletic, they're the something special happening here at Georgetown now."

The night was an opportunity to recognize the leaders within the Department of Athletics as a group that goes all over the country and the world representing the University.

"Of all of the extracurricular things we offer, I don't think there is anything that is quite as intense as the experience all of you live as intercollegiate athletes," said DeGioia. "You learn what it means to push back from tears and go beyond limits of previous performances and previous accomplishments in your own lives and also in the sports that you play. To strive to become the women and men that you were called to be. To learn what it means to pursue excellence in all that you do."