Fordham Track and Field looked to rescue their outdoor season this past weekend under a blue-gray Connecticut sky, the team having traveled to Yale University in order to compete in the Mark Young Invitational. This meet essentially functioned as a junction point for the Rams, ultimately determining the trajectory of their season. If they performed well, they’d break their negative slide and take some much-needed momentum into their most important three-week stretch of the year: one which includes the Penn Relays, the Atlantic 10 Championships and the ECAC/IC4A Championships. However, should they have fared poorly, they’d likely have found themselves stuck in freefall, intensifying and doubling all the bad mojo that they collected from their frustrating showing at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton University. Thus, considering these stakes, the Rams could exhale slightly when the men’s team actually won the meet with a phenomenal team score of 109 points.
The duo of freshman Jabril Carter and sophomore Liam Volz started this bounceback for the Rams, as the two set the tone early by claiming gold and bronze, respectively in the men’s 100-meter dash. Volz was not finished yet, as he continued to set the standard in the men’s 200-meter dash, this time earning silver with his impressive mark of 22.57 seconds. He was not the only Ram to finish in the event’s top five, as graduate student Erik Brown came firmly in fifth place with a time of 23.03 seconds, while junior Chris Martinez managed to sneak up onto the podium with Volz, taking bronze in the event with a time of 22.72 seconds.
The tandem of Martinez and Brown also cracked the top five of another event together: the men’s 400-meter dash. There, the two replicated their finishes in the 200-meter dash, Martinez (50.86 seconds) again claiming the bronze medal and Brown (51.09 seconds) finishing in fifth place. However, this time, they had another Ram sandwiched between them in the standings, as senior Safo Kirton recorded a fourth-place finish with his own impressive time of 50.92 seconds.
Next, it was much of the same domination in the men’s 800-meter dash, the Rams once again placing two runners into the event’s top five. It was new faces who spearheaded Fordham’s domination this time, with the Rams’s success coming from sophomore Trevor Rinn and freshman John Corrigan: Rinn claimed bronze with a time of 1:54.25, while Corrigan finished in fourth with a time of 1:55.73.
It was a while until the Rams had their next podium finish, as the team had to wait until the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase. There, sophomore Darren Croke took silver, breaking the medal drought with his second-place time of 9:45.25.
Looking at the field side of things, the men potentially had even more success there, winning an astounding four events. The first of these wins came in the men’s high jump, as freshman DaRon Elam propelled himself into first with an impressive mark of 1.86 meters. Senior Justin Rhee replicated this level of success for the Rams in the men’s triple jump, comfortably claiming gold on the back of his season-best mark of 13.43 meters. Finally, the Rams’ last two field event wins came via the arms of sophomore George Pomer, as he claimed gold in both the men’s discus throw (31.79 meters) and the men’s javelin throw (51.40 meters).
While the men’s team enjoyed all this success, the women’s team did not fare as well, finishing second to last at the meet. Their day was marked by incredibly inconsistent performances, with the team’s track athletes struggling to crack their respective event’s top fives.
One of the few runners who performed at a consistently high level was sophomore Dillyn Green. Green not only claimed silver in the women’s 100-meter dash with her impressive time of 12.53 seconds, but also won another silver medal in the women’s 200-meter dash via a time of 25.57 seconds. It wasn’t until the women’s 1500-meter run that the Rams claimed their next and final medal in a track event, freshman Megan McCann (4:43.88) earning bronze in the race via her stellar mark of 4:43.88.
However, the women fared better on the field, enjoying a handful of solid showings, especially in the women’s high jump. There, a trio of Rams cracked the top five, sophomore Zoe Arakelian leading the charge with her second-place mark of 1.63 meters, sophomore Leia Ruvo claiming bronze with a mark of 1.55 meters and freshman Lexi Fujita brought up the rear in fifth.
Ruvo’s day was not finished there in the high jump. She also put on strong performances for Fordham in the women’s long jump and triple jump. She finished just one spot shy of the podium in the long jump, recording a fourth-place finish with a mark of 5.43 meters. Then, in the triple jump, she dropped a ranking and finished in fifth place, with a time of 11.39 meters.
Finally, of note for the women was their performance in the meet’s throwing events, as the duo of freshman Sarah Cooley and sophomore Tanicha Saintigene combined for a pair of top-five finishes. Cooley’s top-five performance came in the women’s discus throw, as she finished in fifth with a time of 33.99 meters. For Saintigene, her top-five finish came in the women’s javelin throw, as she collected a silver medal for the Rams, finishing in second and recording an impressive mark of 23.02 meters.
In terms of what is next for the Rams, the team will head to the University of Pennsylvania this coming weekend to compete in the legendary Penn Relays.
