WASHINGTON – The Georgetown university track & field program opened the outdoor track season on Friday at the Fred Hardy Invitational in Richmond, Virginia.
Hoyas
Nicholas Givan and
Grace Smiechowski both took first place in the men's and women's 400m hurdles, respectively, in an impressive start to the season.
ON THE RECORD:
"I'm very pleased with how well my group did today. Two athletes I'd like to highlight , who opened up with pretty good times for the first meet was
Grace Smiechowski and Nick Givan. They did a good job executing certain parts of their race. Still more work to be done, but a very promising outdoor season ahead." - Assistant Coach for Track & Field / Cross Country
Kaisha Weeks
HOW IT HAPPENED
- In the men's 400m hurdles, Givan fought to get to the top of the back before breaking away from the leading three runners coming out of the last turn. With his final kick, he took first place with a 52.93 mark.
- In the women's 400m hurdles, Smiechowski broke away from the pack going into the first turn. With no one able to catch her, she had space to comfortably take first with her finishing time of 1:01.45.
- In the women's 400m, Piper Rodgers approached the finish line while edging out Virginia Union's Toni Middlebrooks to take second in the heat. With her time of 57.12, she also took second overall.
- Teammates Finley McGee and Jadah Fitzgerald also finished 10th and 13th in the 400m, respectively, with times of 59.19 and 59.58.
- Fitzgerald took fourth place in the 200m with a 25.37 mark, while Kaira Brown took eighth with a 25.44 finish.
- A trio of Hoyas took seventh, eighth, and ninth in the men's 400m. Jabril El-Amin finished with a time of 50.32, while teammates Micah McKenzie and Joshua Paige followed close behind in the overall standings with marks of 50.59 and 50.68, respectively. El-Amin took second in heat one, while McKenzie was third in heat two.
- Roberto Terrell Jr. took first overall in the long jump, tallying 6.80m on his sixth attempt. Fellow Hoyas Christopher Pitt (6.64m) and Noah Toole (6.35m) joined Terrell Jr. in the top-ten, taking fourth and seventh, respectively.
- Alexis Emery took 17th in the women's long jump, recording 4.69m, while Mackenzie O'Connor took 18th with 4.63m.
- Emilia Puskas finished 25th overall with a time of 2:22.50 in the women's 800m.
OF NOTE
- Smiechowski's 400m Hurdle performance is ranked 29th nationally and is the tenth-fastest finish by a Hoya in the event.
- Rodgers' 400m finish currently ranks 98th nationally.
UP NEXT
The Hoyas are back in action next weekend, competing at the Raleigh Relays from March 28-30th in Raleigh, N.C. and at the Princeton Relays on March 30 in Princeton, N.J.
