By Emmanuel Berbari
After escaping the frigid Northeast April temperatures, the 2018 Colonial Relays brought impressive results for the Fordham Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams.
The men’s team fought its way into the top 20, collectively earning a 17th-place finish out of 63 teams, while the women’s squad placed 13th for the three-day weekend event.
Sophomore Ryan Kutch started the Rams off in style on Thursday, foreshadowing the successful weekend to come with a victory in the 3,000-meter championship run (8:26.94).
In the same event on the women’s side, sophomore Katarzyna Krzyzanowski placed third in an Eastern College Athletic Conference-qualifying 9:54.48.
Both individuals ensured that Fordham would strike fear into its opponents heading into the final two days of competition.
On Friday, that fear wreaked its havoc in the men’s field events, as senior Ryan Riviere finished tied for the sixth in the pole vault championship (14’ 7 ¼”); freshman Nikolas Reardon stacked up third and eighth in the high (6’ 2 ¾”) and long (21’ 11 ¾”) jump, respectively; sophomore Andrew Byrne scored comparatively in the high jump (6’ ¾”) and Riviere surfaced once again with a third-place finish in the javelin throw (141’ 10”).
The women excelled on the track, as junior Mary Kate Kenny set another school record with a 12.12-second sixth-place finish in the 100-meter dash, besting teammate Kathryn Kelly’s week-old record, Kelly crossed herself 13th in 12.30 seconds and senior Laura Jaeger registered a 44th-place time of 12.75 seconds. That same unit continued to shine in the 200-meter dash, with the results featuring Kenny at 24.75 seconds (14th), Kelly at 25.08 (21st), and Jaeger in 25.16 (25th).
In the 800-meter run, senior Merrisa Wright made noise, grabbing 11th-place in a stellar 2:13.05, while junior Aidan Moroz finished in a 28th-place time of 2:16.60.
The following day, the Rams were extremely effective in the relays, with both sides competing and flourishing in five relay events.
For the men, the top result came in the distance medley relay and the 1600-meter sprint medley relay. Contributors included Heinrich, Gooden, senior Michael Campbell and Kutch (10:18.24) in distance medley relay, and Benn, Gooden, Keegan and freshman Christopher Strzelinski (3:33.12) in the sprint medley relay.
With that said, the impressive times did not stop there. Junior Patrick Dineen, sophomores Sean Sullivan and Jordan Milite and Cronin finished eighth in the 4×800 in 8:03.59, the same ranking as the 4×100 relay team of Dabney, sophomore Radny Porter Arcia, Mack and Reardon, who managed a time of 44.69 seconds. The final men’s relay score was in the 4×200 relay, as Dabney, Porter Arcia, Reardon and Riviere’s 1:35.64 placed just outside of the top-10.
The women scored in four of the events, as the top Ram finish was a second-place 4:05.20 mark in the 1600-meter sprint medley relay, produced by Kelly, Kenny, Boerke and Wright. Fordham also earned a third-place time of 49.40 seconds in the 4×100 relay, with Kelly, sophomore Mary Kate Caucci, Kenny and Jaeger taking center stage.
In the 4×800 relay, Moroz, junior Kate McCormack, Harum and Krzyzanowski placed fifth in 9:22.21, while the 4×1500 relay group of Fisher, Grebe, junior Abigail Taylor, and sophomore Sydney Snow crossing eighth in 20:13.29. Finally, the 4×200 relay unit of Silfies, Caucci, Jaeger and Jagoe-Seidl capped off the weekend of achievement, finishing 13th in 1:54.28.
The Rams will be back in action this weekend, going to work at the Metropolitan Championships on Friday and Saturday in Piscataway, New Jersey.
