WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University track & field team closed the 2023 Penn Relays with strong performances in the last of a trio of distance relays with the women's 4x1,500-meter relay and the men's 4xmile relay, both Championship of America Events. Both current and former Hoyas made the most of the final day of competition at historic Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
 
ON THE RECORD
"I thought all four men executed great legs. The goal is always to give your teammate the baton in a good position and we did a great job of that. It's really hard to win but I'm happy with how we competed. That was a historically great field and six teams finished within half a second. I certainly wish we had won but I know those four men are poised to have a great rest of the season." - Assistant Coach Brandon Bonsey
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• The Championship of America Women's 4x1,500-meter relay saw the Hoya foursome of Chloe Gonzalez, Andrea Claeson, Chloe Scrimgeour and Melissa Riggins finish fourth with a time of 17:19.44. Despite Georgetown breaking off into the lead pack, the top three pulled away to a smaller contingent of Oklahoma State, Washington and Providence with the Hoyas shortly behind in a battle with Notre Dame. Riggins was on the anchor leg and as the field made moves over the final 400 meters and thinned out, Riggins was able to edge out the Fighting Irish to ensure fourth place.
• Camden Gilmore, Abel Teffra, Matthew Rizzo and Matthew Payamps combined for the Championship of America Men's 4xMile. Following splits from Gilmore (4:01.62) and Teffra (3:59.90), the Blue & Gray handed off in second place. To close the third stanza, Rizzo's momentum propelled the Hoyas into good position but the field of anchors slowed the pace down and let the entire pack come together. Payamps hit the final straightaway and despite a strong kick, it was not enough as the Hoyas finished fifth with a time of 16:14.64. A mere 64-hundredths of a second separated the first place squad and the sixth-place foursome.
• Eni Akinniyi jumped 11.95m to finish 12th in the women's triple jump.
• On the alumni front, former Hoya All-American Josette (Norris) Andrews won the Olympic Development Women's 1,500m Elite. She clocked 4:04.88 over the race and stayed in a close second through the first 700 meters. She moved into first place through 1,100 meters and dropped a 1:03.09 over the final 400 meters to handily take the win by more than two seconds.

 
UP NEXT
Georgetown returns to action on Friday, May 5 at University of Maryland's Kehoe Twilight Meet in College Park, Maryland.