Fordham Indoor Track and Field had a successful winter break, as well as a great first weekend of the semester. They competed in several meets at the beginning of 2016, including the Villanova Invitational, the Yale Invitational, the Sean Atkinson Invitational hosted by Fordham University and the Great Dane Classic hosted by the University of Albany. This past weekend, on the Friday before the big snowstorm, they competed in the NYC Gotham Cup. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished the meets with great results, and are looking forward to the remainder of the indoor season.
The Rams’ first meet in 2016 was the Villanova Invitational at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Friday, Jan. 8. For the women’s team, junior Shanna Heaney and sophomore Merissa Wright had excellent 800m runs, finishing in fourth and fifth respectively, with times of 2:18.73 and 2:18.86. Freshman Kate McCormack finished runner-up in the mile run, with a time of 5:10.23. For the men’s team, freshman Jared Benn finished sixth in the 400m dash with a time of 49.71. Sophomore Thomas Slattery had an excellent runner-up finish in the 3,000m run, with a time of 8:35.9. It was a solid meet overall, with the women finishing in fifth place and the men finishing in seventh.
Their second meet was the Yale Invitational at Coxe Cage in New Haven, Connecticut on Saturday, Jan. 9. This meet saw huge successes in both the men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams. The men’s relay team consisted of sophomore Brian Cook, freshman Jared Benn, freshman Sean Phillips and sophomore Thomas Slattery. These Rams finished third in their race, with an IC4A qualifying time of 10:14.88. The women’s relay team was composed of freshman Kate McCormack, sophomore Merissa Wright, senior Danielle Rowe and junior Shanna Heaney. These young women set a new school record in this race, with a time of 11:50.88 placing them in third place and qualifying them for the ECAC.
On Fordham’s home track, the Rams competed in the Sean Atkinson Invitational on Friday, Jan. 15. It was a meet between Fordham, Stony Brook and Fairleigh Dickinson, with both of Fordham’s teams finishing in third place. Junior Jake Duckworth was the victor in the mile with a time of 4:26.93, while freshman Neve Devine won the high jump event with a jump of 5’3”.
The next day the Rams were in Staten Island at the Great Dane Classic hosted by the University of Albany. This was a great meet for the ladies, as many set new personal records. Freshmen Mary Kate Kenny and Morgan Menzzasalma set career-best times in the 400m run. Freshman Kate McCormack finished seventh in her first collegiate 1,000m run with a time of 2:58.01. Junior Shanna Heaney finished the 1,000m with a new personal best of 2:57.39, earning her sixth place. Overall, the women Rams ended the meet with a 15th place finish out of 26 teams.
The Rams’ final and most recent meet so far was the NYC Gotham Cup that took place on Friday, Jan. 22. This meet had many debuts and career-bests, though there was no team scoring. For the men, Slattery’s time of 2:32.08 in the 1,000m gave him a seventh place finish. Benn finished in 12th place for the 400m with a time of 49.93. Sophomore Michael Campbell finished the 800m in 14th place with a time of 1:58.81. Freshman Sean Phillips finished his mile in 17th place with a time of 4:20.58, a new personal record. Sophomore Ryan Riviere was the only Ram to compete in the pole vault event, where he came in 10th with a vault of 13’3.5”. For the women, freshman Angelina Grebe made her debut in the 5,000m, finishing in fifth place with a time of 18:17.54. Sophomore Stephanie Leo also debuted in her first 3,000m, with a time of 10:34.20 placing her in 27th. In the 400m dash, Wright, who came in 15th with a time of 57.89, Menzzasalma, who came in forty-second with a time of 1:00.12 and Siller, who came in 50th with a time of 1:01.28, all ran personal bests. Finally, freshman Mary Kate Kenny was the only Ram to participate in two events at this meet. In the 200m dash she set a new personal record of 26.08, which gave her a 17th place finish. She also matched her personal record of 7.99 seconds for the 60m dash, putting her in 33rd place. McCormack recaps the past month by stating, “Over all I thought the meets over winter break went well for most. We had a good start to a very long season.”
The Rams have had a successful season so far, and they hope to continue to do so. Junior Brianne Roche looks forward to the rest of the season, saying, “We had two weeks of solid training together as a team before classes started up, getting in some really good workouts. We’ve definitely seen some great performances already, and I’m sure there will be more to come now that everyone has had their ‘rust-buster’ races and we’ll be at more competitive meets for the second half of the season.”
Catch the Rams in action again this Friday and Saturday as they compete in the Terrier Classic at Boston University.
