Track & Field Starts Outdoor Season at VCU

Results
 
Richmond, Va. – (March 22-23, 2019) – The Fordham track & field team split their squad to open the 2019 outdoor season, as part of the team was in Richmond, Virginia for the two-day VCU Ram Invite.  It was a solid opening meet for Fordham, as the Rams won four events, while posting one ECAC qualifier.
 
The meet began on Friday with the first event win coming from Kathryn Kelly in the women's long jump with a distance of 5.68 meters.  Then, Katarzyna Krzyzanowski led a trio of Fordham runners to a 1-2-3 finish in the 5,000 meter run.  Krzyzanowski was first in 17:28.99, followed by Abigail Taylor in second (17:52.28) and Sarah Daniels in third (17:56.41).
 
On the men's side on Friday, Nicholas Raefski and Brandon Hall placed second and third, respectively, in the 5,000 meter run in 15:03.38 and 15:06.28.  Then over in the 400 meter hurdles, Kyle Mack had the best finish, taking fifth in 56.48 seconds, while Chase Krug was 16^th in 1:01.87.  The final Friday competitor was Nikolas Reardon, who finished third in the long jump (21' 11 3/4") and triple jump (45' 9 1/4"), while winning the high jump event with a height of 6' 2 1/4".
 
On Saturday, the day began with the 4x100 relay, as the women's team of Kelly, Mary Kate Kenny, Sarinnagh Budris, and Dominique Valentine, placed third in 48.05 seconds, while the men's team of Alfredo Manu Guzman, Michael Capone, Mack, and John Keegan took sixth in 44.23 seconds.
 
Next was the 1,500 meter run, where the Fordham men took first, second, and fourth overall, led by Brian Cook in a time of 3:56.72.  Christopher Strzelinski was runner-up in 4:00.15 with Sean Sullivan in fourth at 4:05.05.  On the women's side, the Rams had three runners in the top six, led by Laurel Fisher in second place at 4:41.68.   Angelina Grebe was fifth in the event in 4:48.72 with Aidan Moroz in sixth at 4:49.05.

 
In the 400 meter dash, Budris grabbed fourth overall in 57.93 seconds with Valentine right behind her in fifth in 58.16 seconds.  On the men's side, Louis Santelli placed fifth overall in 50.36 seconds.
 
The 100 meter dash saw an ECAC qualifying time for Kelly, as she placed fourth in 12.02 seconds, while Guzman was the men's top finisher in tenth at 11.28 seconds.  Kelly also had a strong showing in the 200 meter dash, placing fifth in 25.25 seconds.
 
In the 800 meter run, Fordham had two women in the top seven, while the men had three.  Jeremiah LaDuca took third for the men in 1:59.92 with Will Whelan in sixth (2:03.08) and Keegan in seventh (2:03.03).  Over on the women's side, McCormack was fourth in 2:17.70 with Dana Beggins in seventh at 2:22.55.
 
Fordham's final event win came in the women's 2,000 meter steeplechase as Sydney Snow won the event in 7:10.52.
 
The last event was the 4x400 relay, where the women's team of Budris, Kelly, Moroz, and Valentine placed second in 4:00.33, while the men's group of Santelli, Keegan, Strzelinski, and Krug were third in 3:25.43.
 
The Rams are next in action on March 29 at the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C.