Fordham Track and Field competed in their first meet of 2022 this past Saturday at the Ramapo College Season Opener, with the women finishing first out of 15 teams and the men finishing 12th out of 19 teams. This meet marked the first of the season for team rankings, as previous meets focused on individual scoring.

The women’s team entered 2022 with a commanding presence. After multiple strong individual placements in last week’s Lions Indoor Invitational, sophomore Kyla Hill and graduate student Kathryn Kelly spearheaded the women’s victory. Hill took first in the 60m dash with a time of 7.75 while Kelly recorded first in the 200m dash, marking a season-best time of 24.96. In addition, Kelly went on to finish second in the long jump event with a mark of 5.44m.

Rounding out second place finishers for the women included junior Taylor Mascetta in the 800m at a time of 2:20.06 and senior Dominique Valentine in the 400m with a season-best time of 1:00.41. Valentine would also play a role in the second place finish of the 4×400 relay team featuring Valentine and sophomores Michele Daye, Molly Mulvaney and Marin Bogulski with a time of 4:06.69. 

On the field side of the events, junior Amanda Gurth brought home a second place finish in the shot put with a distance of 10.51m, just under two inches shy of her career best. Senior Casey Metzler placed third in weight throw, with an impressive improvement from her distance of 12.56m during the Lions Invitational to 13.93m. 

While the men’s team did not finish in the top ten, individual efforts from junior Erik Brown and the men’s 4×400 relay team claimed top five finishes for the Rams. Brown secured the men’s side highest individual finish at second place in the 600m with a time of 1:22.48. Brown graduate student Antony Misko and juniors Eric Jacobson and  Jack Reilly took home fourth in the 4×400, with a time of 3:29.23. While it may not be where the Rams had hoped to finish, they did place higher than their sixth place finish at the Lions Invitational. 

Other placements for the men include senior Alec Wargo finishing fifth in the weight throw at a distance of 13.32m and senior Brandon Hall placing seventh in the mile run with a time of 4:21.64, almost tying his career best mile of 4:20.02.

The Rams will look to keep momentum going for the long season ahead and hopefully improve even more as they compete this weekend in the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston..