By Emmanuel Berbari
Boston University hosted the 2018 David Hemery Valentine Invite, this year’s holiday-tailored Track and Field event at its Track and Tennis Center. The Fordham women’s teams competed on Friday and the men on Saturday.
Fordham, fresh off another record-setting week fueled by junior Mary Kate Kenny’s red-hot stretch, did not register the same prestigious results again, as the women’s side only saw two individuals—senior Laura Jaeger (60m dash—12th in 8.17 seconds) and freshman Kathryn Kelly (60m Invitational—18th in 7.19 seconds / 200m run—28th in 25.13 seconds)— post top-30-caliber results.
“It feels good going into A-10s this weekend knowing I have the potential to gain some extra points for the team,” said Kelly.
Despite falling short of its recently-set lofty standards, the Ram women competitively showcased five other finishes within the top 75. Jaeger motored through the 200-meter run in 25.4 seconds, good enough for 38th place, senior Brynna Harum finished the 1,000-meter run in 2:57.63, stacking up 33rd, junior Laurel Fisher and her 4:58.87 mile time earned a 55th-place nod and Kelly (5.12m) and freshman Sarinnagh Budris (4.84m) recorded impressive marks in the long jump, placing 34th and 41st, respectively.
“The team works really hard every day at practice,” said Kelly. “It’s always exciting to see it pay off with a great performance at a meet.”
On Saturday, the men took their turn at setting a school mark. Senior Brian Cook made Fordham history, crossing the finish line of the 1,000-meter run in 2:24.97, good for ninth place and IC4A qualification. The time broke teammate Louis Santelli’s record from earlier this season, when the senior mid-distance-runner completed the same event in 2:25.80.
Santelli was not completely overshadowed in Boston, however, as he bested his already IC4A-qualifying time in the 800-meter, clocking a season-best time of 1:50.91 and a 15th-place result. Freshman Christopher Strzelinksi stood out in the same race as well, recording a personal-best clip of 1:54.85.
Junior Sean Phillips added another IC4A-qualifier to the Rams’ growing list, winning his mile run in 4:13.29. Senior Thomas Slattery and sophomores Ryan Kutch and Sean Sullivan came up just short of qualification by a combined eight seconds.
Fordham will return to action this weekend at the 2018 Atlantic Championship, which will be held in Kingston, Rhode Island.
“Our goal is to compete as a team,” said Kelly. “The focus is gaining as many points toward the team score as possible.”