Several women’s indoor track and field runners earned top-10 finishes at the Cardinal Classic hosted by Catholic University earlier this month, their second meet of the season.
The Revolutionaries showed strong performances both individually and as a team at the Jan. 18 meet, with the majority of runners placing in the top 15 of their events. Five Revs placed in the top five during sprinting and distance events, indicating that the women’s indoor team is benefiting from an influx of new sprinting recruits and team camaraderie.
Junior Sarah Mitchell placed first in the mile with a time of 5:01.42 and followed it up with a fourth-place finish in the 800m with 2:17.67, earning a personal record in the process. Sophomore Emma Friedrich also recorded her personal best in the 3000m with a time of 11:02.45, followed only two seconds behind by junior Ashley Robinson.
Mitchell said she was content with her performance but is more focused on what lies ahead for the team at the Atlantic 10 Championships in late February.
“Every point and every second counts at conference so between now and then I’m focusing on working on running faster times and placing as high as I can in races,” Mitchell said in an email interview.
Junior Madison Hardamon set a personal record placing fifth in the 60m with a time of 7.91, as well as placing fifth in the 200m with a time of 26.27. Freshman Rylan Priest, the only Revolutionary in the 400m, finished in fourth place with a personal record of 1:00.98, nearly breaking the subminute barrier in the process.
Aside from the strong showing at the Cardinal Classic, the team has been making moves in other areas. With a seven-week indoor season, and one of two seniors left on the roster, Head Coach Terry Weir said he and assistant coaches Samantha Nadel and Justin Lupone have taken an experience-focused approach with the team this winter.
“We’re really not focusing on end result times or performances,” Weir said. “We’re really focusing on the whole picture of competing: tactics, gaining experience, that sort of thing.”

Weir said the team has typically focused on middle-distance events, meaning its highest scoring performances have been in events such as the 800m and mile. Efforts to strengthen the sprinting program have intensified, marked by the hiring of Lupone as a full-time sprinting coach that replaced the previous arrangement where Weir said he and Nadel coached the distance and sprinting teams. The number of sprinters on the team has also doubled since the 2023 season, growing from six to 12.
Weir said he recently promoted Mitchell to team captain, joining senior Olivia Syftestad in leading the distance team and the overall underclassmen-dominated team. The coaching staff has also recruited a trio of graduate students in part for their leadership potential: Dami Oyatayo, Danielle Dyer and Monika Kubai, all with at least a couple years of experience from racing at Howard, Elon and Flagler, respectively.
Nadel said Oyatayo and Dyer have been especially active in teaching the newer sprinters lessons from their own experiences, leading drills, setting an example for the team and providing a general sense of direction for the sprinting team.
With experienced veterans behind the team, Nadel said she has high hopes for the new sprinting crew.
“They’re new to GW this year,” Nadel said. “But even so, they bring a wealth of experience from their previous institutions. They’ve been through a college system for four years, and I think specifically in that sprint group, they’ve brought a lot of leadership to the team.”
Weir said the addition of more sprinters to this season’s roster will lead to short-distance runners of a higher caliber during the indoor season.
“We’re going to have a very strong sprint crew this year,” Weir said. “And I think for indoors this year, we’re probably going to be led by our sprint group, more so than our middle distance or distance group.”
Sophomore sprinter Janae Russell said that aside from performances and results, runners have pointed toward team camaraderie as the key to their success.
“We consistently encourage one another during challenging workouts, and within the sprinter group, we have developed smaller, tight-knit connections,” Russell said in an email interview.
Freshman distance runner Hadley Mahoney said her extra motivation this season stemmed from sustaining strong relationships with her teammates.
“We definitely work hard, but the coaches and upperclassmen create such a supportive and positive team dynamic,” Mahoney said in an email interview. “During the rest of my time here on this team, I hope to compete to the best of my ability with the guidance of my coaches and teammates.”