By Alexandria Sedlak
The 2016 Metropolitan Championships at Ocean Breeze Park in Staten Island proved to be a truly successful meet for Fordham’s men’s and women’s track and field teams. All teams participating in the Metropolitan Championships were from the tri-state area. On Friday, Feb. 5, both teams finished in fourth place. The men’s team competed against 12 other teams, and the women’s team competed against 14 other teams. The men fell to Rutgers, Manhattan and Southern Connecticut State, and the women to Rutgers, St. John’s and Manhattan.
Among the 21 career-best and debut times at the meet, there were also seven IC4A/ECAC qualifying times between both groups.
For the men, freshman Jared Benn competed in the 400m dash, finishing in a time of 49.13, which was a personal best as well as an IC4A qualifying time. Benn also made his debut in the 200m, which was good for fifth. Freshman Sean Phillips won the 1000m race with a finishing time of 2:30.84, while freshman Patrick Dineen also raced in the 1000m, coming in sixth with a time of 2:36.31. Sophomore Thomas Slattery accomplished a first place finish in the 3000m race with a time of 8:33.15. Senior Mike Turi followed this standard with his first place victory in the 5000m race. Sophomore Nik O’Brien, senior Quincy O’Connor and junior Jake Duckworth also competed in the 5000m race, coming in second with a time of 15:14.40, third with a time of 15:18.60 and sixth with a time of 15:35.47, respectively.
The Rams also scratched out wins in the relay races. The team of sophomore Michael Campbell, freshman Sean Phillips, sophomore Louis Santelli and sophomore Fritz Heinrich won the 4x800m relay with a time of 7:53.03. The distance medley relay consisted of sophomore Brian Cook, freshman Jared Benn, sophomore Nik O’Brien and senior Mike Turi. Their first place win and finishing time of 10:12.06 also qualified them for the IC4A.
Not to be left out, the men’s sole field participant, sophomore Ryan Riviere, set a new personal best with a height of 13’ 7.25”, good enough for fourth place.
The women’s side saw no less success. The first event to go was the 500m run, in which senior Danielle Rowe and sophomore Merissa Wright qualified for the ECAC with times of 1:14.36 and 1:14.84, respectively. Junior Shanna Heaney, who finished in second with an ECAC qualifying time of 2:13.89, and freshman Aidan Moroz, who finished in fifth, competed in the 800m run. Freshman Mary Kate Kenny finished ninth in the 60m dash with a time of 7.93; this beat her previous record by .06 seconds, but just missed the final round qualifying time by .03 seconds. Freshman Kate McCormack came in third place in the 1000m run with an ECAC qualifying time of 2:54.03. Sophomore Brynna Harum was the next Fordham runner to finish this race, with a personal best time of 3:01.40 putting her in sixth place. All four Rams competing in the 5000m – senior Brianna Tevnan, freshman Angelina Grebe, junior Brianna Roche and freshman Kieran Hanrahan – placed within the top 10: third, fourth, seventh and ninth, respectively.
As with the men, the women’s relay teams showed great finishes. Sophomore Christina Perrier, freshman Morgan Menzzasalma, freshman Mary Kate Kenny and freshman Aidan Moroz ran in the 4x400m relay, with a finishing time of 3:55.60 giving them fourth place. Then, in the 4x800m relay, the team of Wright, Rowe, Heaney and McCormack accomplished a first place finish with an ECAC qualifying time of 9:11.91. Summing up the results of the meet, McCormack said, “The Metropolitan Championships went great for most people. Great way to start the championship season! Looking forward to seeing what we can do as a team!”
Just like the results of the Terrier Classic, this meet brought many personal best times and IC4A/ECAC qualifying times. They are all proud of their success so far, and excited for what is to come.
“We’re rolling well going into A10’s. This was a great confidence booster,” Slattery said.
Next weekend, the Rams will be back in action at the Valentine’s Day Classic hosted by Boston University. They will be racing at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center in Boston starting at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12. Following this will be the big Atlantic 10 Championships, taking place from Feb. 20-21 at the University of Rhode Island.
