Results
Staten Island, N.Y. – (December 3, 2022) – A new season began on Saturday night, as the Fordham track & field squad opened its 2022-23 season at the Youree Spence-Garcia Invitational, hosted by St. John's at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island.
Highlighting the opening meet of the season was
Tiffany Hanna, who won the women's weight throw event with a school record throw of 57' 2 ¾", smashing the previous mark of 51' 11 ½" by Arianna Washington in 2006. Her throw was also an ECAC qualifying mark. Joining Hanna with a top five finish in the weight throw was
Casey Metzler, who was forth overall with a mark of 48'3 ¼".
Hanna also had a top five finish in the women's shot put, placing fourth with a mark of 37' ¼", while
Tanicha Saintigene was fifth at 36' 10 ½". Fordham also had high finisher in other field events, as
Jana Rokitta was second in the high jump, clearing 5' 3", while
Alexandra Manetovic was second in the triple jump with a distance of 36' 5 ½".
Leia Ruvo also had a pair of top five finishes in the high jump (3
rd – 5' 3") and triple jump (4
th – 35' 1").
On the running side for the women, the Rams had three second place finishes, beginning with
Kyla Hill in the 300-meter dash, as she clocked in at 39.19 seconds, while
Jilli Jones was second in the 1000-meter run at 3:02.77.
Mary Kathryn Underwood would be sixth in the 1,000 meters at 3:07.76 with
Taylor Mascetta in tenth (3:17.13).
The final runner-up showing was in the 4x400 relay, where
Michele Daye, Underwood,
Sophia Crucs, and Jones took second in 4:08.60.
Other top performers for the Fordham women were
Nicole Lytle in the 60-meter hurdles (10
th - 9.49), Crucs in the 500 meters (10
th - 1:22.24), and
Dillyn Green in the 200-meter dash (8
th – 26.48).
Zalen Nelson
On the men's side,
Zalen Nelson opened his season with a pair of event wins. He won the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:29.20, and later joined
Jack Reilly,
Erik Brown, and
Yariv Simhony on the winning 4x800 relay team, which cocked in at 8:06.56.
Reilly, Brown, and Simhony also added a top ten finish individually, as Simhony and Reilly were third (2:35.7) and fifth (2:38.46), respectively, in the 1,000 meters, while Brown was seventh in the 500-meter run at 1:07.22.
Other top performers in the running events on Saturday, including
George Pomer, who was sixth in the 60-meter hurdles at 9.51 seconds,
Liam Volz, who was sixth in the 300-meter dash (36.00), and
Eric Jacobson, who was sixth in the 1,000 meters (2:40.10).
In the field events, Fordham had three second place finishes beginning with
Michael Croke, who was second in the pole vault, clearing 13' 5 ¼". Then in the triple jump,
Christopher Martinez was second with a mark of 44' 1 ¼" followed by
Suraj Mohammed in third at 43' 4 ¼". Finally in the long jump,
Justin Rhee was second with a mark of 22' 5 ¾" with
Eric Galante in fifth at 21' 9".
The Fordham track & field team will next be in action on January 14
th at the Lions Indoor Invitational, hosted at the Armory Track & Field Center.
