2/3/2003 University Park, Pa. - The Georgetown University men and women’s track & field teams competed at the Penn State National Open on Friday-Saturday, January 31-February 1, at Penn State’s Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track in University Park, Pa.  The meet, which featured a total 50 teams from across the country, was highlighted by a number of top ten finishes by the Hoyas, as well as three NCAA provisional qualifiers.

Senior Ali Najjar (Temple Hills, Md./Northwestern) led the Hoya men and earned a provisional NCAA provisional mark in the 800-meter run, winning the race with a time of 1:50.09. It was the men’s only first-place finish of the weekend. On the women’s side, junior Treniere Clement (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Monroe Falls) earned runner-up honors in the mile run with a time of 4:48.19, also an NCAA provisional qualifier. Clement also led the women’s distance medley relay team, along with junior Kori Hamilton (Glendora, Calif./St. Lucy's Priory), junior Monica Hargrove (New Haven, Conn./James Hillhouse), and senior Erin Sicher (College Park, Md./Good Counsel), to an 11:30.37 time, good enough for second place. The squad also qualified provisionally for the NCAAs.

In addition to Najjar’s performance, the Hoya men boasted 14 top-ten finishes at the Open. The 1000-meter run saw senior Dylan Welsh (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs Senior) take second place with a time of 2:24.63. Senior Robert Wingate-Robinson (Mt. Rainier, Md./Northwestern) notched a 21.58 time in the 200-meter dash for third place, and senior James Graham (Washington, D.C./Northwestern) finished the 400-meter dash in third place with a time of 48.06. Graham also placed seventh in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.16. Senior George O’Loughlin (Danbury, Conn./Danbury), who timed a 4:07.57 in the mile run, placed third in his event.

Junior Jesse O’Connell (Westminster, Md./Westminster) was narrowly edged out at the finish line by Najjar for second place with a time of 1:50.22. Placing ninth in the same event was Courtney Jaworski (University Place, Wash./Curtis) with a mark of 1:53.37. Sophomore Rod Koborski (Houston, Texas/Jersey Village) finished fourth in the 3000-meter run in 8:10.33.  He was followed across the finish line by senior Chris Miltenberg (East Northport, N.Y./John Glenn) in sixth place with a time of 8:18.39.  

The 4 x 400 meter relay team, composed of freshman Chris Bonner (Stoughton, Mass./Xaverian Brothers), Wingate-Robinson, Graham, and Najjar, took fourth place in that event with a 3:15.53 finish. In the distance medley relay, sophomore Chris Esselborn (The Woodlands, Texas/Woodlands), freshman Chris Lukezic (Auburn, Wash./Auburn), Jaworski, and senior Dan Tebbano (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) teamed up to run to a seventh-place finish in 9:59.48.

In the field events, freshman pole-vaulter Dan Pellegrino (Tallahassee, Fla./Maclay) continued his rookie season success with a vault of 15’ 3”, propelling him into eighth place. In addition, senior Davin Williams (Boise, Idaho/Bishop Kelly) placed in the top five in two events, taking fifth place in the long jump with a leap of 23’ 4-1/2”, and fourth place in the triple jump with a mark of 49” 8-1/4”. 

Sophomore Erica Derrickson (Raleigh, N.C./Millbrook) broke Denise Warner’s 1998 school record of 10’ 8”, set at the ECAC Championship in March of 1998.  Derrickson cleared 11’ 6-1/4” to claim 15th place and qualify for ECAC competition.  Akron's Kira Sims won the event in with a 13' 5" mark.

The Hoya women were equally successful over at the meet, recording three first-place finishes. Senior Jamillah Bowman (Ann Arbor, Mich./Ann Arbor Pioneer) took first place in the 500-meter run with a time of 1:12.73. She also led the 4 x 400-meter relay team to a first-place finish in 3:41.26, along with freshman Danielle Rodgers (Yeadon, Penn./Penn Wood), Hargrove, and Hamilton. Rounding out the first-place finishers for Georgetown was the 4 x 800-meter relay team of freshmen Sabine Knothe (Dortmund, Germany/Mallinckrodt Gymnasium), Meghan O’Neil (Phoenixville, Penn./Spring Ford) and Whitney Schmucker (San Diego, Calif./La Jolla HS), along with junior Rose Wetzel (Seattle, Wash./Blanchet).  The squad ran 9:02.43 to win the event.

The women’s team also posted several top-ten finishes across the board. Hargrove placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.14.  She was followed closely by Hamilton in fifth place (55.28). Rodgers took fifth in the 500-meter run with a time of 1:16.42, while O’Neil placed tenth in the mile run with a mark of 5:00.21. Sophomore Jodee Adams-Moore (Bellevue, Wash./Newport) placed tenth in her event, the 3000-meter run, with a time of 9:39.53.