Virginia Beach, Va. – (February 23, 2024) – The opening day of the 2024 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track & Field Championship is in the books at the Virginia Beach Sports Center with George Mason leading the men's championship with 59 points through five events.
Rhode Island is in second place with 57 points, followed by Loyola Chicago (22), VCU (16), Massachusetts (14), Saint Joseph's (13), Fordham (7), Davidson (3), La Salle (3), Saint Louis (1) and St. Bonaventure (0).
Fordham scored in three events on day one, starting with
Eric Galante scoring eighth in the long jump with a distance of 22' 3 ¼", while teammate
Justin Rhee was 15
th at 20' 5 ½". Then in the pole vault,
Michael Croke also scored eighth in the finals, clearing 13' 11 ¼".
The Rams also had
George Pomer competing in the heptathlon, as he stands in 11
th place with 2,015 points through four events. So far, he was 11
th in the 60 meter dash (8.20), 11
th in the long jump (17' 10 ½"), 10
th in the shot put (27' 11 ¼"), and fourth in the high jump (5' 11 ½").
The last scorer on Friday for Fordham was the distance medley relay group of
Rodolfo Sanchez,
Dakota Strain,
Nathan Bezuneh, and
Colin Flood, as they placed fifth in a season-best time of 9:59.07.
In the time trial events, the Rams had two qualifiers for Saturday's finals, beginning in the 500-meter run.
Kevin Callaghan clocked in at 1:05.71, which qualified in seventh for Saturday's final, ahead of teammates
Erik Brown (12
th – 1:06.38),
Safo Kirton (13
th – 1:06.70), and
Christopher Martinez (15
th – 1:08.13).
Bezuneh also qualified for the finals in the 1,000-meter run, posting a time of 2:28.95, which was sixth.
Sean Reidy also ran in the 1,000 meters, clocking in at 2:33.92 (16
th).
In other events, the Rams just missed scoring or qualifying for a final on Saturday. In the 400 meters,
Matthew Nurse was 10
th in a season-best time of 49.87 seconds with
Sam Freeman in 11
th at 49.89 seconds.
Christian Weddington was then ninth in the 60-meter dash in 6.94 seconds.
The 800-meter run saw
Trevor Rinn take tenth in 1:54.31 with
Yariv Simhony in 22
nd at 2:01.36, while
Liam Volz was 17
th in the 200-meter dash in 23.04 seconds.
Lastly in the 5,000-meter run,
Steven Zucca just missed scoring in the event, taking ninth in 14:33.04, with
Jack Boerger in 20
th (15:16.24).
The men's championship concludes on Saturday, February 24
th, with events beginning at 9:00 AM.
Gallery: (2-23-2024) 2024 #A10ITF Championship (Day 1)
