By Tom Terzulli
Fordham Track and Field competed at the historic Penn Relays at Franklin Field. The Rams competed in six events over the weekend.
The action began on Thursday with a pair of women squads in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. The team of freshman Gabriella Gavalas, sophomore Nkeka Pinheiro, junior Laura Jaeger and sophomore Mary Kate Kenny raced to 54th place with a time of 48.87 in the 4x100m. Pinheiro, along with sophomore Aidan Moroz, sophomore Morgan Menzzasalma and junior Merissa Wright, took 36th in the 4x400m with an ECAC qualifying time of 3:51.76.
On Friday, the men’s distance medley relay took center stage. The quartet of junior Louis Santelli, sophomore Jared Benn, junior Fritz Heinrich and junior Thomas Slattery finished 17th overall in a season best time of 10:08.71.
“The Penn Relays is one of the biggest meets we have all year and it comes just in time before the intensity of our A-10 conference meet this weekend,” said Slattery.
Gavalas was also on the field on Friday. The Bridgehampton, NY native placed 19th in the triple jump with a leap of 37’ 3 ¾”.
A pair of 4x800m relay teams on both the women’s and men’s sides ran on the final day of competition. The women’s team of Wright, sophomore Aidan Moroz, senior Shanna Heaney and sophomore Kate McCormack finished 5th in 8:58.41, a time good enough to qualify them for the ECAC Championship.
The men were also successful, finishing 12th with an IC4A qualifying time of 7:40.17. Santelli, sophomore Sean Phillips, senior Devin Rocks and Heinrich comprised the team.
As Slattery said, the big one is next week. The University of Massachusetts plays host to the Atlantic 10 Championship on May 6 and 7.
