With their three biggest meets of the season coming up each of the next three weeks, Fordham Track and Field had one final tune up. Traveling to New Jersey for the Rutger Relays, the Rams took first or second in seven events, riding into the most important section of their schedule with some momentum.

The Rams first flexed their muscles in the 4×100 relays, with both sides posting season-best times. The women’s group of senior Kyla Hill, graduate student Kathryn Kelly, junior Skylar Harris and freshman Dillyn Green took second with a time of 47.17 seconds, while the men’s group of freshmen Christian Weddington and Liam Volz and sophomores Jonah Coleman and Kenneth Maxwell took third with a time of 42.75 seconds.

That success carried into the individual sprinting events. Hill shined once again, taking the event win in the 200-meter dash with 24.34 seconds and adding a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash with 12.01 seconds, both good for season-best times. Green posted top-five finishes in both events as well while Kelly’s season-best distance of 20’ 2 ¼” was good for second in the long jump event. Weddington led the way with two top-five finishes in the men’s events, taking second in the 100-meter and fifth in the 200-meter while Maxwell added two top-10 finishes. Freshman Matthew Nurse also added top-five finishes in the 200- and 400-meter events.

Fordham saw dominance in the 1,500-meter event, taking three of the top five spots in the men’s event and two of the top 10 spots in the women’s event. Sophomore Rodolfo Sanchez earned the event win, ahead of senior Colin Flood in second and sophomore Nathan Bezuneh in fourth. Junior Marin Bogulski and senior Alexandra Thomas took sixth and eighth respectively in the women’s event.

The Rams added three more individual top-five finishes in the form of a third-place time from freshman Ben Borchers in the 800-meter, a fourth-place time from junior Sophia Crucs in the 400-meter hurdles and a season-best distance from freshman Alexandra Manetovic that ranked fifth in the triple jump.

On top of that, Fordham added a slew of top-10 finishes. Graduate students Helen Connolly and Zalen Nelson had top-10 finishes in their respective 800-meter events with Connolly posting a season-best time. Freshman George Pomer notched a pair of top-10 finishes in 400- and 110-meter hurdles, and senior Amanda Gurth did the same in the shot put and discus throw. Rounding it out, freshmen Michael Croke, Nicole Lytle, Leah Ruvo, Zoe Arakelian and Alison Burton all slid into the top 10 on Saturday.

To close out the day, the Rams posted top-five finishes on both sides in the 4×400 relays as the men’s unit finished third while the women’s unit finished fourth, serving as a fitting capper to a very successful day.

Fordham will have to bring their best over the next three weeks. The gauntlet starts this weekend in Philadelphia, as the Rams take part in the Penn Relays over the course of the weekend. Championship play begins the following weekend with the Atlantic 10 Tournament in Amherst, Massachusetts, ahead of the ECAC/IC4A championship in Fairfax, Virginia which will be the final event of the 2022-2023 Track and Field season.

They should enter this stretch feeling fairly good about themselves as the Rutger Relays simply highlighted the fantastic contributions that have come up and down this roster on both sides. It just remains to be seen if they can keep it up against premiere collegiate competition when it matters most.