By Tom Terzulli
Merissa Wright finished fourth in the 400m. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)
Fordham Track and Field kicked off their spring season at the Fred Hardy Invitational, hosted by the University of Richmond.
The two-day affair began with the Rams participating in four events on Friday. Junior Louis Santelli was the top finisher on the track, placing third in the 1500m run with a time of 3:56.16. Right behind him was fellow junior Thomas Slattery who finished 4th in 3:57.90. Three more Rams finished in the top 10: freshman Ryan Kutch (6th – 4:00.69), junior Fritz Heinrich (7th – 4:01.89) and sophomore Sean Phillips (9th – 4:02.42). Five more Fordham representatives clocked in among the top 20: junior Nik O’Brien (12th – 4:04.12), junior Brian Cook (13th – 4:04.45), senior Devin Brooks (16th – 4:06.85), senior Ryan McGann (18th – 4:08.34) and sophomore Patrick Dineen (20th – 4:08.67). Freshman Matthew Roma (33rd – 4:15.78), freshman Sean Sullivan (36th – 4:17.98) and senior Jake Duckworth (37th – 4:18.78) rounded out the finishers.
For the women, sophomore Kate McCormack finished 13th with a time of 4:44.06 in the 1500m. She was trailed by two others in the top 20: junior Merissa Wright (18th – 4:50.14) and senior Shanna Heaney (19th – 4:50.17). Sophomore Laurel Fisher just missed out on the top 20, finishing 21st in 4:50.95. Finally, there were 26th, 27th and 28th place finishes for freshman Kaia Corthell (5:01.51), senior Josephine Jacob-Dolan (5:02.07) and sophomore Blake Elwood (5:04.15).
In field events, junior Ryan Riviere placed second in the pole vault, clearing 4.41m. He also placed 14th in the javelin, throwing for 44.02m. Senior Nicholas Regan grabbed sixth in that same event with a 57.22cm throw.
The women’s team had two entrants in the triple jump. Freshman Gabriella Galvas (4th-11.56cm) and freshman Alina Kwiatkowski(13th-10.45cm) were the competitors.
The women’s team had a great day two. They put together 10 top 20 finishes in four different events.
Sophomore Mary Kate Kenny finished sixth in the finals of the 100m dash in a time of 13.07.
Heaney led the pack of solid Ram performances in the 800m. The Hampton Bays, N.Y. native placed sixth with a time of 2:16.00. She was followed by McCormack(8th–2:20.14), sophomore Aidan Moroz (9th –2:20.43), sophomore Leah Hickey (14th–2:21.53, senior Georgeanne Siller (18th – 2:23.60), Fisher (19th – 2:24.54) and Elwood (20th – 2:24.75).
The other top performers were Wright in the 400m (4th-56.87) and Galvas in the long jump (7th-5.26m).
Jared Benn secured the only top 10 finish in men’s singles competition on day two. The sophomore came in sixth in the 400m after running a 48.51.
The others in the top 20 were Heinrich (12th-1:58.83) and Sullivan (17th-1:58.89) in the 800m.
In relays, the women kept up the good work as Moroz, Siller, Corthell and Jacob-Dolan cruised to third place in the 4x800m in 9:42.82. The team of sophomore Morgan Menzzasalma, Wright, Heaney and junior Jennifer Boerke raced to fourth in the 4x400m, crossing the line in 3:58.85. Finally, Fisher, Hickey, McCormack and junior Laura Jaeger got themselves a fifth place finish in 50.67 for the 4x100m.
On the men’s side, O’Brien, Phillips, Rocks and Heinrich (7:54.69) cruised to second place in the 4x800m. The quartet of sophomore Eddie Dehais, Rocks, Phillips and sophomore Andre Guthrie placed 11th in the 4×400 at 3:32.88.
The Rams also entered athletes in the 3000m, 200m and high jump. Top finishers in each of those events were Isabel Huelskamp (18th-11:01.70) in the women’s 3000m, Kenny (28th-26.55) in the women’s 200m and Dehais (23rd-23.29) in the men’s 200m.
Next stop for the Rams is Williamsburg, Va. for the Colonials Relays on March 31-April 1.
