Georgetown Women Win Cross Country Pre-Nationals, Men Take Third

The Georgetown women's cross country team wins the Pre-National Meet for the second-consecutive year

Oct. 18, 2014
WASHINGTON - The Georgetown cross country program had a stellar showing at the 2014 Indiana State University Pre-National Meet with the women taking first place for the second-consecutive year and the men placing third in their first outing at the Pre-National Meet since 2012. This is the best showing for the men at the Pre-National Meet since Patrick Henner took over as the Director of Track & Field / Cross Country in the fall of 2007.

"I was extremely proud of the men today," Men's Distance Coach Brandon Bonsey said. "They executed the race plan beautifully. That's the best execution the men have had in probably the last six years.

"Everyone ran together and ran for the team. I think we showed today that we are one of the best teams in the country. We knew we were capable of this and the guys went out and did it. This was great preparation for the NCAA Championships and we are excited for the BIG EAST Championships in two weeks."

The Georgetown men finished third utilizing a pack-running strategy, tallying 148 points with a 15-point spread among the top five Hoya spots. The top Hoya finisher was All-American Ahmed Bile (Annandale, Va./Annandale) placing 21st with a time of 24:43.2 over the 10,000-meter course. Jonathan Green (Berlin, Mass./St. John's High School) was the next to cross the finish line as he timed in at 24:48.8, placing 28th and one of two Hoyas to finish among the top 30. Scott Carpenter (Lenox, Mass./Lenox Memorial), Darren Fahy (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) and Brian King (Sonoma, Calif./Cardinal Newman) were the three remaining scorers for the Hoyas with times of 24:50.3 (31st), 24:51.5 (33rd) and 24:53.0 (35th), respectively. With less than two seconds separating the top five scorers, the Hoyas executed their game plan precisely.

The men finished third (148) behind No. 1 Colorado (35), No. 2 Oregon (91) with No. 26 Furman (262), No. 22 Colorado State (272) and No. 29 Tulsa (272) rounding out the top five. The Hoyas were unranked in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll.

The fourth-ranked women won the Pre-National Meet for the second-consecutive year tallying 110 points followed by No. 3 Oregon (139), No. 1 Michigan (143), No. 7 Colorado (186) and No. 29 NC State (233) for the top five teams.

All-American Katrina Coogan (Exeter, N.H./Phillips Exeter Academy) was the top finisher for the Hoyas as she finished third among the field, timing in at 20:37.7 over the 6,000-meter course. Kelsey Smith (Blacksburg, Va./Blacksburg) and All-American Madeline Chambers (Rocky River, Ohio/Magnificat) ran shoulder-to-shoulder, crossing the finish line with times of 21:12.8 (19th) and 21:13.0 (20th), respectively. All-American Andrea Keklak (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury/Princeton) finished 31st overall with a time of 21:17.9 while Annamarie Maag (Lake Oswego, Ore./Jesuit Prep) was the last point scorer for the Blue & Gray with a 37th-place showing of 21:25.9.

Pre-Nationals serves as a precursor to the NCAA Championships allowing participants to compete on the same course that will be used at nationals in November and giving each participating school a preview of what is to come.

Georgetown returns to action on Friday, October 31 at the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships, hosted by Butler University at Northview Church in Indianapolis, Ind.