WASHINGTON – On a weekend which promised to be one of the best track & field competitions in the country, the Georgetown men's and women's middle-distance prowess was on display in the 1500-meter and 800-meter run events. 

DIRECTOR OF CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK & FIELD ALTON MCKENZIE ON JOE WALKER INVITATIONAL:

"Our momentum from the past two weekends certainly carried over to our great performances at Ole Miss. Cathilyn McIntosh had a dominant win in her heat of the 800m to run 2:05.25. Sami Corman built on her great run in the 800m a week ago to run a huge PR in the 1500m of 4:18.27. I'm looking forward to what they will do as the season progresses. I was also very excited to see what our men did in the 1500––six PRs in one event is nothing short of amazing. Exceptional work competing and tremendous job by Coach Bonsey having our men in such a great position. I was also happy to see Andrew Robinson run 10.63––though wind aided––either way it's a great effort and the fastest any men's 100m sprinter has run in a long time. But the effort from our men's 1500m group certainly highlighted our performances on the weekend and was a great way to close out our weekend at the Joe Walker Invitational. We'll look to continue our level of competitiveness as we head into our next meet at UVA." 

Friday (4/9) Recap:

• First up for the Hoyas was sophomore Theo Woods who started the weekend with a personal best of 1:48.27 to finish fifth in a field featuring NCAA Indoor silver medalist Finley McLear of Miami of Ohio.
• Woods, who represents France internationally, now ranks No. 1 on the French national list for 2021 and No. 2 on the European under-23 rankings behind McLear.
• Ruach Padhal and Ethan Delgado finished in 10th and 16th running 1:49.19 and 1:52.53, respectively. 
• In the women's 1500m, Sami Corman continued to show why she is one of the finest middle-distance runners in the NCAA; Corman finished seventh in a field that produced three of the top four times nationally; the junior shattered her previous personal best of 4:23.34 running 4:18.27.
• Alie Fordyce finished 17th just outside her personal best of 4:23.10, running 4:23.86. 
• The final event of Friday's competition was the women's 200m where Chelsea Smith and Tamiya Roberts set season-best marks running 24.93 and 25.34, respectively.
• For Smith, it marked the first time in her career under 25 seconds. 
• Maya Drayton had the fastest mark of the meet running 24.73 just off her season best of 24.58 set at the Raleigh Relays earlier this month.

Saturday (4/10) Recap:

• First up on the track to begin day two of competition was the women's 400-meter dash, where the trio of Drayton, Smith, and Roberts returned to the track and all finished inside the top 10.
• Smith and Roberts followed closely behind in seventh and tenth place running 56.90 and 58.54, respectively. 
• Lawrence Leake also turned in a top-three performance in the men's event to claim a season-best mark of 48.72, finishing third.
• In the men's 100-meter dash, Andrew Robinson posted the fastest mark by a Hoya in the last five years; the freshman clocked 10.63 to place eighth overall.
• In the women's middle distance events, it was all Cathilyn McIntosh; competing in her first 800m race since the 2019 outdoor season, the sophomore won her section in commanding fashion running 2:05.35, her fastest time in three years, placing her 16th nationally on the NCAA descending order list.
• In the 1500m, led by senior star Robert Brandt who placed fifth overall in 3:38.29, the Hoyas had six runners clock personal bests and placed four runners inside the top 20 of a race that produced multiple Olympic Trials qualifying marks; Brandt now ranks #4 in Georgetown History just behind Andrew Bumbalough and Salisbury now sits inside the top 20 all-time at No. 14. 
• Jack Salisbury was the second Hoya across the line, dominating his section and setting a personal best by more than four seconds, running 3:40.48. 
• The freshman duo of Parker Stokes and Matthew Payamps finished 17th and 18th overall running 3:43.05 and 3:43.06, respectively.
•  Rounding out the Hoyas' statement race were Camden Gilmore at 3:46.83 and Jantz Tostenson at 3:48.51.

HEAD MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY/ASSISTANT TRACK & FIELD COACH BRANDON BONSEY ON THE MEN'S 1500M: 

"That was flat-out fantastic racing from the 1500 men last night. The times were great obviously, but I love the way they competed. We had people in four different heats and they were right there competing for the win in all four of them. If we keep competing like that good things will happen during the postseason. Robert's 3:38 was pretty big-time stuff for a 10k guy. That race should help a lot with his closing speed at the end of a five and 10k."

UP NEXT:
Next up the Hoyas will travel back to Charlottesville, VA for the Virginia Challenge on April 15 and 16.