Hoyas Sweep 4x800m Relays, Coogan and White Win Individual Titles at BIG EAST Championships
 |  Katrina Coogan (pictured) captured her first BIG EAST outdoor title today. |
May 9, 2015
VILLANOVA, Pa. - Behind five event titles (3 men, 2 women), the Georgetown track & field team closed out a strong weekend at the 2015 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships with the men finishing fourth of seven teams with 114 points while the women placed fifth of eight teams with 72 points. The two-day affair wrapped up at the Jumbo Elliott Track at Villanova Stadium after the Hoyas won three of the last four relays on the track - sweeping both 4x800-meter relays and winning the men's 4x400-meter relay. The win in the men's 4x400m snaps ends a 10-year drought in the event for the Blue & Gray. All-American Katrina Coogan (Exeter, N.H./Phillips Exeter Academy) became the seventh Hoya in program history to win the BIG EAST outdoor 1,500-meter run, setting a new meet record with a time of 4:13.70, surpassing the previous record set in 2009 by former Hoya All-American and eight-time BIG EAST champion Maggie Infeld. This is the eighth title in the event in GU history and the first since Infeld's 2009 win. This is Coogan's first outdoor conference title and her third overall (cross country, indoor, outdoor). Coogan led the entire race, continuing to extend the gap between her and the chase pack. Haley Pierce (Wilmington, Del./Tatnall School), All-American Hannah Neczypor (Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) and Aleta Looker (Ellsworth, Maine/Ellsworth) all scored points for the Hoyas as they finished fourth (4:24.16, 5 points), fifth (4:24.59, 4 points) and eighth (4:32.02, 1 point), respectively. All-American Joe White (Cilfton, N.J./DePaul Catholic), just a freshman competing in his first BIG EAST outdoor championships, already has an individual title to his name, winning the men's 800-meter run. White clocked 1:49.38 for the title as the Hoyas went 1/2/4 for 23 points in the event. All-American Billy Ledder (Washington, D.C./Gonzaga) finished second (1:50.02) while All-American Ahmed Bile (Annandale, Va./Annandale) finished fourth (1:50.06). At the bell, Bile, Ledder and White started to get their position, riding it through the back straightaway. White made his move and came off the final turn high to handily take the lead on the outside as he outkicked the field.
This is the second-consecutive year the Hoyas have won the men's 800m with Bile winning the 2014 title. White is the eighth Hoya to win the event as GU tallies 11 total titles. The GU foursome of Looker, All-American Piper Donaghu (Portland, Ore./Grant), Jocelyn Hubbard (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield/Northeastern) and Heather Martin (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) won the women's 4x800-meter relay with a time of 8:39.38. Looker led off, keeping the Hoyas in contention through her handoff. Donaghu had a strong push through her stanza to hand off in first place with Hubbard taking over the third leg. Martin anchored the foursome and waited for her moment coming off the final turn to easily take over first place over the final straightaway. This is the first outdoor win for all four student-athletes. The title is the ninth in the event for the Blue & Gray in program history with the last one coming in 2011. Andrew Ogle (Powell, Tenn./Powell), Bile, All-American Amos Bartelsmeyer (St. Louis, Mo./Saint Louis Country Day) and All-American Cole Williams (San Francisco, Calif./Occidental College) teamed up in the men's 4x800-meter relay. Bile took over the baton on the second leg and made up some necessary ground, taking the lead by the end of his stanza. Bartelsmeyer and Williams just worked to extend the lead, timing in at 7:26.16, more than four seconds faster than the field. This is the second-consecutive title in the event for the men and the 10th in program history. A stacked middle distance roster, the Hoyas put together the quartet of Nathaniel Gordon (Spartanburg, S.C./Spartanburg), Ledder, Daniel Anderson (Ozark, Mo./Ozark) and White in the final track event of the meet, the men's 4x400-meter relay. Gordon held on strong through his frame as Ledder took over the second leg, handing off in the lead. Anderson took the inside track following the exchange and continued to build the gap through his 400-meter leg before handing off to White for the anchor leg. White easily won the event as the foursome clocked 3:11.70. This championship and White's title from earlier in the day mark his first and second outdoor conference titles and he now has four league titles overall (indoor, outdoor). This is the seventh time the Blue & Gray has won the men's 4x400-meter relay. Today's win is the first title since the Hoyas won it in 2004. The men's 1,500-meter run saw Williams and Bartelsmeyer make a strong move down the final straightaway in a mix of Villanova and Georgetown jerseys. Williams had a great lean across the finish to capture second place, clocking 3:49.11, while Bartelsmeyer finished fifth (3:49.45). In the women's 800-meter run, a quartet of Hoyas competed, taking 3/4/5/7 to tally 17 points in just one event. Donaghu clocked 2:07.15 for third place, followed by Martin in fourth (2:07.76), Emma Keenan (Gwynedd Valley, Pa./Gwynedd-Mercy Academy) in fifth (2:08.68) and Kristen Walsh (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland) in seventh (2:09.58). A pack of runners featuring just Villanova and Georgetown formed as the men's 5,000-meter run continued. The trio of Collin Leibold (Falls Church, Va./Gonzaga), Jonathan Green (Berlin, Mass./Saint John's High School) and Silas Frantz (Henrico, Va./Douglas Freeman) stuck together through the majority of the race before VU's duo picked up the pace and Leibold followed on his own. The Blue & Gray went 3/4/5 with Leibold finishing third (14:42.78), Green finishing fourth (14:49.61) and Frantz placing fifth (14:51.47). Carter Taylor (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area), just a freshman and competing in his first BIG EAST outdoor championships, just missed out on a podium finish as he timed in at 56.25 in the men's 400-meter hurdles to finish fourth. Autumn Eastman (Hinesburg, Vt./Champlain Valley State) made a strong push from back in the second chase pack up to fifth place in the men's 5,000-meter finals, clocking 17:20.18. Anderson had the luxury of running two personal records (PR) in one meet, setting a new PR in Friday's prelim and running another PR in today's final. He ran 48.64 to take seventh in the men's 400-meter dash, tallying two points for the Blue & Gray. In the women's 4x400-meter relay, the quartet of Ebony McKeever (San Francisco, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral), All-American Sabrina Southerland (New York, N.Y./Benjamin N. Cardozo), Jody-Ann Knight (Bentonville, Ark./Bentonville) and All-American Becca DeLoache (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) clocked 3:47.01 for fifth place. The Hoyas continue competition May 15-17 at the ECAC / IC4A Championships, held in Princeton, N.J. Also on the schedule is the Wolfpack Last Chance Meet in Raleigh, N.C. Men's Final Results:
Villanova (243), Marquette (183), DePaul (164), Georgetown (114), Xavier (68), Providence (53), Butler (23) Women's Final Results:
Villanova (247), Marquette (138), St. John's (130), DePaul (124), Georgetown (72), Providence (62), Butler (45), Xavier (35)
VILLANOVA, Pa. - Behind five event titles (3 men, 2 women), the Georgetown track & field team closed out a strong weekend at the 2015 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships with the men finishing fourth of seven teams with 114 points while the women placed fifth of eight teams with 72 points. The two-day affair wrapped up at the Jumbo Elliott Track at Villanova Stadium after the Hoyas won three of the last four relays on the track - sweeping both 4x800-meter relays and winning the men's 4x400-meter relay. The win in the men's 4x400m snaps ends a 10-year drought in the event for the Blue & Gray. All-American Katrina Coogan (Exeter, N.H./Phillips Exeter Academy) became the seventh Hoya in program history to win the BIG EAST outdoor 1,500-meter run, setting a new meet record with a time of 4:13.70, surpassing the previous record set in 2009 by former Hoya All-American and eight-time BIG EAST champion Maggie Infeld. This is the eighth title in the event in GU history and the first since Infeld's 2009 win. This is Coogan's first outdoor conference title and her third overall (cross country, indoor, outdoor). Coogan led the entire race, continuing to extend the gap between her and the chase pack. Haley Pierce (Wilmington, Del./Tatnall School), All-American Hannah Neczypor (Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) and Aleta Looker (Ellsworth, Maine/Ellsworth) all scored points for the Hoyas as they finished fourth (4:24.16, 5 points), fifth (4:24.59, 4 points) and eighth (4:32.02, 1 point), respectively. All-American Joe White (Cilfton, N.J./DePaul Catholic), just a freshman competing in his first BIG EAST outdoor championships, already has an individual title to his name, winning the men's 800-meter run. White clocked 1:49.38 for the title as the Hoyas went 1/2/4 for 23 points in the event. All-American Billy Ledder (Washington, D.C./Gonzaga) finished second (1:50.02) while All-American Ahmed Bile (Annandale, Va./Annandale) finished fourth (1:50.06). At the bell, Bile, Ledder and White started to get their position, riding it through the back straightaway. White made his move and came off the final turn high to handily take the lead on the outside as he outkicked the field.
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This is the second-consecutive year the Hoyas have won the men's 800m with Bile winning the 2014 title. White is the eighth Hoya to win the event as GU tallies 11 total titles. The GU foursome of Looker, All-American Piper Donaghu (Portland, Ore./Grant), Jocelyn Hubbard (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield/Northeastern) and Heather Martin (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) won the women's 4x800-meter relay with a time of 8:39.38. Looker led off, keeping the Hoyas in contention through her handoff. Donaghu had a strong push through her stanza to hand off in first place with Hubbard taking over the third leg. Martin anchored the foursome and waited for her moment coming off the final turn to easily take over first place over the final straightaway. This is the first outdoor win for all four student-athletes. The title is the ninth in the event for the Blue & Gray in program history with the last one coming in 2011. Andrew Ogle (Powell, Tenn./Powell), Bile, All-American Amos Bartelsmeyer (St. Louis, Mo./Saint Louis Country Day) and All-American Cole Williams (San Francisco, Calif./Occidental College) teamed up in the men's 4x800-meter relay. Bile took over the baton on the second leg and made up some necessary ground, taking the lead by the end of his stanza. Bartelsmeyer and Williams just worked to extend the lead, timing in at 7:26.16, more than four seconds faster than the field. This is the second-consecutive title in the event for the men and the 10th in program history. A stacked middle distance roster, the Hoyas put together the quartet of Nathaniel Gordon (Spartanburg, S.C./Spartanburg), Ledder, Daniel Anderson (Ozark, Mo./Ozark) and White in the final track event of the meet, the men's 4x400-meter relay. Gordon held on strong through his frame as Ledder took over the second leg, handing off in the lead. Anderson took the inside track following the exchange and continued to build the gap through his 400-meter leg before handing off to White for the anchor leg. White easily won the event as the foursome clocked 3:11.70. This championship and White's title from earlier in the day mark his first and second outdoor conference titles and he now has four league titles overall (indoor, outdoor). This is the seventh time the Blue & Gray has won the men's 4x400-meter relay. Today's win is the first title since the Hoyas won it in 2004. The men's 1,500-meter run saw Williams and Bartelsmeyer make a strong move down the final straightaway in a mix of Villanova and Georgetown jerseys. Williams had a great lean across the finish to capture second place, clocking 3:49.11, while Bartelsmeyer finished fifth (3:49.45). In the women's 800-meter run, a quartet of Hoyas competed, taking 3/4/5/7 to tally 17 points in just one event. Donaghu clocked 2:07.15 for third place, followed by Martin in fourth (2:07.76), Emma Keenan (Gwynedd Valley, Pa./Gwynedd-Mercy Academy) in fifth (2:08.68) and Kristen Walsh (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland) in seventh (2:09.58). A pack of runners featuring just Villanova and Georgetown formed as the men's 5,000-meter run continued. The trio of Collin Leibold (Falls Church, Va./Gonzaga), Jonathan Green (Berlin, Mass./Saint John's High School) and Silas Frantz (Henrico, Va./Douglas Freeman) stuck together through the majority of the race before VU's duo picked up the pace and Leibold followed on his own. The Blue & Gray went 3/4/5 with Leibold finishing third (14:42.78), Green finishing fourth (14:49.61) and Frantz placing fifth (14:51.47). Carter Taylor (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area), just a freshman and competing in his first BIG EAST outdoor championships, just missed out on a podium finish as he timed in at 56.25 in the men's 400-meter hurdles to finish fourth. Autumn Eastman (Hinesburg, Vt./Champlain Valley State) made a strong push from back in the second chase pack up to fifth place in the men's 5,000-meter finals, clocking 17:20.18. Anderson had the luxury of running two personal records (PR) in one meet, setting a new PR in Friday's prelim and running another PR in today's final. He ran 48.64 to take seventh in the men's 400-meter dash, tallying two points for the Blue & Gray. In the women's 4x400-meter relay, the quartet of Ebony McKeever (San Francisco, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral), All-American Sabrina Southerland (New York, N.Y./Benjamin N. Cardozo), Jody-Ann Knight (Bentonville, Ark./Bentonville) and All-American Becca DeLoache (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) clocked 3:47.01 for fifth place. The Hoyas continue competition May 15-17 at the ECAC / IC4A Championships, held in Princeton, N.J. Also on the schedule is the Wolfpack Last Chance Meet in Raleigh, N.C. Men's Final Results:
Villanova (243), Marquette (183), DePaul (164), Georgetown (114), Xavier (68), Providence (53), Butler (23) Women's Final Results:
Villanova (247), Marquette (138), St. John's (130), DePaul (124), Georgetown (72), Providence (62), Butler (45), Xavier (35)
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