GRC to Race at Hopkins/Loyola

GRC’s track crew will be out in full force at the Hopkins/Loyola Invitational in Baltimore on Saturday.  “While no one is going to confuse it with the Penn Relays, we enjoyed the low-key atmosphere at the Hopkins meet last year, and the competition is solid enough to challenge even our top athletes, so it’s nice for us to be able to stay close to home this week,” said Coach Jerry Alexander.  In action for the women are Hilary May, Meghan Lockett, and Catherine Campbell in the 1500, and Susan Hendrick and Avril Ogrodnick in the 5000.  Campbell is guaranteed her third straight PR, as she has never competed in the 1500, and she will use it as a tune-up for the 5000 at Penn.  May hopes to challenge her PR of 4:30.  “It will be interesting to see if Hilary’s newly developed strength in the 5k translates to the 1500.  I expect her to run well, and if that means a PR, all the better,” said Alexander.  Hendrick and Ogrodnick, former Georgetown teammates, will be running their first outdoor 5ks in several years.  “I’m really excited to see Susan racing on the track again.  She’s a tremendous talent, and she’s highly motivated to make up for lost time,” said Alexander.

On the men’s side, Chuck “Big City” Kacsur will run his specialty, the 800 meters, and will have company from Ryan Witters and Sean Barrett, both of whom are running the 800-1500 double.  Sam Luff will join them in the 1500.  In the 5000, Joey Wiegner, Matt Hassett, Dave Wertz, JR Roberts, and Sebi Devlin-Foltz will compete for GRC.  “Our top guys are using this meet as a tune-up for the major competitions later this month.  Sam is running the 10,000 at Mt. Sac Relays next week, and his goal is to get some turnover before heading out west.  Sean is hoping to run 2 PRs tomorrow, to be followed by a 5k PR at Princeton next week, and a 10K PR at Penn.  The way he has looked in workouts since he returned from Serbia (where he represented the United States in the World Military Cross Country Championships), I wouldn’t bet against him.  Witty is also looking to sharpen up for a big PR at Penn,”  said Alexander.  In the 5000, Wiegner looks to build on the momentum he started at Raleigh Relays two weeks ago, when he broke 15:00 in his first serious track race in almost two years.  “Wiggy’s comeback is right on schedule, and I expect him to take another step forward tomorrow,” said Alexander.  Hassett is also looked to follow-up on a strong performance at Raleigh, where he ran a PR of 15:25.  “Matt is ready to step up to the next level, and as a Loyola alum, he’s hoping to put in a strong performance on his home track.”

Report filed by Coach Jerry Alexander