The Fordham track & field team continued their indoor season this past weekend, leaving the greystone confines of Fordham in order to compete in the Ramapo College Season Opener at one of New York City’s premier athletic sites: the famed Armory. The Rams found mostly nothing but success while at this cathedral of athletics, as despite the fact that many of the team’s usual standouts did not compete, with figures such as graduate sprinter Kyla Hill and sophomore sprinter Matt Nurse missing the meet, and the reality that the competition present was mostly of a very high level, with prominent schools like Colby College and Colgate University sending their best athletes, many of Fordham’s younger athletes stepped up and announced their arrival with strong performances.
One of these standout performances was that of freshman pole vaulter Michaela Gier, as she managed to break the Fordham’s women’s pole vault record, completing an impressive 10’ 10” attempt that would also net her a third place finish in the event.
Another freshman who likewise experienced massive success was distance runner Sarah Zahaykevich, who gave the Rams one of their event victories of the weekend by finishing first in the Women’s 5,000-meter with a blistering time of 18:59.95.
While the men’s side of the team did not field anybody for the 5,000-meter event, they did see two stellar freshmen excel in a different distance event: the 3,000-meter race. It was here that the duo of freshman Sean Reidy and freshman Jack Boerger were able to put together a dominating performance, with Reidy finishing in first place with a time of 8:47.57, while Boerger came just behind him in third with his own respective exceptional time of 8:53.87.
Boerger and Reidy were not the only freshmen duo to dominate an event for the Rams, however, as Sam Freeman and Dakota Strain both put in a strong performance for the Rams in the Men’s 400-meter. Freeman was able to finish 12th in the event, posting a time of 51.72, while Strain placed 19th in the overly crowded field with a time of 52.08. Strain’s impressive day was not limited to that singular strong performance, however, as he would likewise go on to finish sixth in the Men’s 200-meter, posting an impressive time of 22.63.
The last strong freshmen performances of the day came on the field side of the meet for the Rams, as Sarah Cooley, Ashley Holbrook and DaRon Elam all found themselves in the top five of their respective events. Cooley not only powered her way to fifth place in the Women’s Shot Put, her best throw of the day traveling a whopping 11.06 meters, but she also set a personal record in the Women’s Weight Throw event, recording a ninth place finish with a best-throw of 12.92 meters. Elam’s respective strong performance came in the Men’s High Jump, as his score of 1.87 meters allowed him to capture fourth place. Finally, for Holbrook, her respective success was found in the Women’s Triple Jump, her personal best attempt of 10.49 meters, allowing her to capture sixth place. It should also be noted that higher honors in the event, however, were reserved for another Fordham athlete, as sophomore Leia Ruvo came in second with an outstanding recorded highest-jump of 11.34 meters.
Outside of these strong freshmen performances by the track team’s youth, Fordham also found success turning to some of their usual contributors.
One of these mainstays was sophomore sprinter Kylie Ritz, who was able to win the unseeded Women’s 60-meter with a time of 8.08 seconds to beat out New Jersey City University’s Ayriana Young for the top spot.
The Women’s High Jump event likewise found experienced Fordham sophomores dominating, as the Rams nearly swept the podium with sophomores Zoe Arakelian and Alexandra Manetovic coming in second and third, both finishing with a personal best of 1.62 meters. Moreover, just behind them in fourth place was yet another Ram, with junior Anya Alfonsetti-Terry likewise having a banner day by recording a personal record of 1.57 meters.
Lastly of note was the spectacular day that sophomore Alexandra Williams had, as she notched a top 10 finish in two different events, running a personal best 59.82 in the Women’s 400-meter to finish sixth in the race, and another personal best of 26.13 in the Women’s 200-meter to finish ninth.
In terms of what is next for the Rams after this impressive performance, they are slated to head down to the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Brighton, Mass., to compete in the River Hawk Invitational this coming weekend. The two-day meet will occur across Friday Jan. 25 and Saturday Jan. 26, with the Rams likely again facing tough competition in almost every event. However, if this past weekend indicated anything, they will likely be more than up to the task.
