Avril Ogrodnick's Georgetown Experience (Class of '09)

Hold on Hoyas.

Track and field is a brutally honest sport. You step up to the line and have to perform at that moment. You line up knowing that your performance usually ends in complete physical pain, and a mental struggle to get yourself to the finish line. The coaches at Georgetown University do everything within their power to prepare you to perform when you line up on the track. The honesty and feedback that they provide about a given performance is one of the best educational experiences a college student can receive. Performance expectations at Georgetown are high, but reasonable. The coaching staff value student-athletes who exhibit effort and passion as much as they do students with All-American accolades.

When you love the sport, nothing is more frustrating than having to sit on the sidelines during injury and watch the show from the sidelines. I spent my first two years at Georgetown injured, and the third year, Coach Henner patiently brought me back to life on the track. In my experience, Coach Henner was the one person who saved my collegiate running and literally re-taught me how to run step by step so that I could be injury free. I stand by him as a coach. Scratch that. I jump up and down screaming for him as a coach.

Moving on to Coach Mike Smith. Coach Mike has a natural leadership and coaching ability that I knew of long before he came to Georgetown. I believe that under his leadership, the Hoyas will not only remain a top distance program in the country, but more importantly, future Hoyas will develop in the true Georgetown spirit of cura personalis. Coach Mike is a product of Georgetown, and will develop well-rounded people who the University will be proud of long after they hang up their track spikes.

To current Hoyas, we know that this current portrayal is not us…. we know what we are all about. Now, more than ever is the time to “hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says hold on!” We will get through it. We will rise above it.

Avril Ogrodnick

Class of 2009