Fordham Track and Field had an excellent day in their first championship of the season as both men’s and women’s took third place in the Metropolitan Championship on Feb. 3. It’s now the second year in a row that Fordham has ranked top three in the Metropolitan Championship on both the men’s and women’s sides. 

Fordham tallied five event wins on the day, four of which came from event medleys. Seniors Taylor Mascetta and Alexandra Thomas and juniors Marin Bogulski and Abigail Llach posted the first Fordham win with a time of 12:36.16 in the distance medley. The men’s distance medley team quickly responded with a win of their own, as sophomore Isaiah James and juniors Daniel Asher, Justin Lombardi and Steven Zucca posted a time of 10:20.48. 

If the distance medley sweep wasn’t enough, the Rams also went on to sweep the 4×800 events. Junior Molly Mullaney, senior Mary Kathryn Underwood and graduate students Jill Jones and Helen Connolly took care of business on the women’s side while graduate student Zalen Nelson and freshmen Ben Borchers, Yariv Simhony and Darren Croke secured the win for men’s. The final event win came from graduate student Jana Rokitta, who cleared a season-best in the women’s high jump with a height of 5’9”. 

Not to be outdone, senior Kyla Hill, who set a Fordham record in the 60-yard dash just last week, broke her own record, finishing second with a time of 7.57 as she bested last week’s record by 0.03 seconds. It’s just another notch in the belt of Hill, whose senior campaign is off to a remarkable start as one of the top runners on the women’s side. She also finished second in the 200-meter dash, as Fordham recorded numerous top-five finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides. 

Highlights include top-five finishes in the long jump from juniors Justin Rhee, Eric Galante and Skylar Harris. Sophomores Caroline McDonagh and Madeline Ryan finished second and third in the 5,000-meter run, respectively. The Rams added six scorers in the 1,000-meter run, five scorers in the mile run and four scorers in the 500 and 800 meter runs. Sophomore Christopher Martinez and freshman Michael Croke earned fourth-place finishes in the triple jump and pole vault, while graduate student Tiffany Hanna was the final scorer, ranking fifth in the women’s weight throw. 

When it was all said and done, the Fordham women tallied 116 points, ranking third out of 14 teams while the men scored 112 points to finish third out of 12 teams. 

It was a quick turnaround as Fordham participated in the Scarlet Knights Open the very next day. The Rams did not record a top-ten finish as Rhee headlined the day with a 13th-place finish in the triple jump event. Still, the weekend was a resounding success, as the Rams ended their first championship of the season with a top-three finish.

Fordham will be split next weekend between the Boston University Valentine Invitational in Boston, Massachusetts and the Millrose Games at the New York City Armory. With the winter Atlantic 10 Championship on the horizon, scheduled for Feb. 25 in Rhode Island, next weekend’s meets will give the Rams one last chance to get ready for some big events ahead.