By Alexandria Sedlak
On Friday, Jan. 29, and Saturday, Jan. 30, the men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the annual Boston University John Thomas Terriers Classic. Most of the women’s events took place on Friday, while most of the men’s events took place on Saturday. Fordham competed against 80 other universities, with about 3,000 athletes spread across the events. There was no team scoring, but there were many outstanding performances and personal records among the Rams.
The first event to start the two-day meet was the 800m run. Sophomore Brynna Harum, who finished with a time of 2:21.32, and freshman Laurel Fisher, who finished with a time of 2:22.46, were both making their debuts for this indoor race. Sophomore Merissa Wright also ran in the event, with a time of 2:18.15, a new personal record. Sophomore Christina Perrier then ran in the 400m dash, finishing in the top 100 with a time of 1:00.39; she was the only Fordham runner in this race. Freshmen Mary Kate Kenny and Morgan Menzzasalma both set new personal records in the 200m dash with times of 25.95 and 26.34, respectively. This succession of personal bests continued with freshman Kate McCormack’s 45th place finish in the mile with a time of 5:08.07.
In the relay races, the team of Wright, Menzzasalma, Rowe and Moroz finished the 4×400 meter relay in a time of 3:53.10, which put them in 18th place overall and less than one second away from the ECAC-qualifying time. The highlight of the women’s races was junior Shanna Heaney’s run in the 800m race. Her personal best time of 2:13.03 gave her a 23rd place finish and qualified her for the ECAC, her first time qualifying for a solo event.
The men’s races also started with the 800m run. Sophomore Fritz Heinrich made his debut in this event with a time of 1:56.34. Next, freshman Jared Benn was the sole Ram in the 400m dash, and finished in 44th with a time of 49.37. This time was only .17 seconds away from qualifying for the IC4A. Sophomore Louis Santelli was also less than a second away from the IC4A qualifying time, with his time of 1:05.51 in the 500m run placing him in 11th overall. In the 200m dash, freshman Michael Aman finished in 91st place with a time of 22.66, which also just missed the mark for the IC4A qualifying time.
Three Rams, freshman Sean Phillips, sophomore Michael Campbell and freshman Patrick Dineen, competed in the 1000m run. Phillips, who was making his debut in this event, finished in 18th with a time of 2:29.61. Campbell, setting a new personal record, finished in 34th with a time of 2:32.54. Dineen also set a new personal record, with a time of 2:33.49 putting him in 38th place. Finally, for the 3000m race, sophomore Thomas Slattery finished in 44th with a new personal best time of 8:25.45. “This weekend went flawlessly for so many of us,” said Slattery. “Our training was catered to accomplish many of the IC4A standards, which is what is expected of us to fulfill at a high performance meet like this one.”
After such a produtive weekend in Boston, the team has reason to feel confident about the rest of the season. Four Rams turned in career-best performances, and the season is still young.
Slattery looked forward to the fruitful future of the team. “As the season continues onward, our stellar performances this weekend should really fill us with hope,” he said. “Now we can begin to not just run, but race with a sense of faith in ourselves and one another to accomplish a little, or maybe a lot, of gold hardware during the championship season. If this season is one big fire, then this weekend was definitely the match.”
The Rams will be back in action this Thursday and Friday, Feb. 4 and 5, when they will compete in the Metropolitan Championships at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Complex on Staten Island. After that, the team will head back to Boston University for the Valentine’s Day Classic, where it will attempt to replicate the success it saw this past weekend.
