Track & Field Prepares for A10s at David Hemery Valentine Invite
Fordham Track and Field now sets its eyes on the A-10 Championships. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)
By Emmanuel Berbari
Fordham Track and Field tuned up for the Atlantic 10 Championship this past weekend at the 2019 David Hemery Valentine Invitational, hosted by the Boston University Track & Tennis Center, adding further ECAC qualification to an already impressive collective resume.
On the men’s side, the Rams boasted ECAC qualification and four season-best efforts on Saturday. Junior Sean Sullivan picked up his second IC4A qualifier of the season, finishing the 800 meter run in a season-best time of 1:53.94 and ranking 46th among competitors.
In the mile, freshman Brandon Hall led the charge at 4:20.40 (135th), sophomore Will Whelan posted 4:22.28 (157th) and sophomore Christopher Strzelinski crossed in 4:22.47 (162nd).
Senior Jared Benn cracked the top 100 in the 200 meter dash, finishing in a season-best 22.39. In the 500 meter, sophomore Kyle Mack turned in one of Fordham’s best showings of the day, placing 21st in 1:05.46.
Meanwhile, freshman Jeremiah LaDuca sped to the tune of 2:30.75, good enough for 34th place in the 1,000 meter. In the 3,000 meter, junior Ryan Kutch showed his dissatisfaction with “good enough,” topping his already IC4A-qualifying time, clocking in at 8:07.91 (15th).
The Rams performed best collectively, with Kyle Mack, Jared Benn, Jack Keegan and Arthur Gooden thriving in the 4×400 relay, they came in 11th in 3:18.72, topping their previous ECAC-qualifying time.
Sophomore Ryan McGraw finished off the day by posting respectable marks in the long jump and triple jump, stacking up 19th at 21’ ¾” and 34th at 41’ 5”, respectively.
The women’s competition on Friday, featured one ECAC qualifier and five season-best performances for the Rams.
The highlight of the day was by senior Aidan Moroz, who placed 33rd in the 1000 meter run in an ECAC-qualifying 2:55.63.
With that said, sophomore Kathryn Kelly stole the show.
In the field events, she recorded 17’ 9 ½” (13th) in the long jump and a season-best 36’ 6 ¾” (18th) in the triple jump.
Kelly did not stop there, taking on part in the 4×400 relay, which also included Moroz and sophomores Sarinnagh Budris and Dana Beggins, helping Fordham to 15th-place and season-best 3:52.88 clip.
When the longer distance competitions came around, two standouts came to play. In the mile run, junior Katarzyna Krzyzanowski placed 61st in 5:01.52, good for 61st overall, the best time by a Ram this season. In the meantime, senior Angelina Grebe impressed in the 3,000 meter to the tune of a season-best 9:57.46 (64th).
Fordham is next in action at the Atlantic 10 Championship, hosted by George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, coming up Feb. 23-24, where they will look to build on a dominant showing at Metros and an encouraging tune-up in Boston.
Chris Weimar • Feb 17, 2019 at 10:45 am
Maybe I missed it, but would like to see the Fordham Athletic Dept acknowledge the accomplishment of Ryan Kutch’s 8:07 3000M performance… it’s not only a school record but one of the best indoor track performances in the past 35 years…I think the Department should prepare a piece in this outstanding runner and his accomplishments at Fordham, so far…more to come I’m sure..