Lawrenceville, N.J. – (March 22, 2024) – With impending rain in the forecast for Saturday, the Fordham track & field team made their way to the re-scheduled Rider 5-Way Invitational on Friday afternoon at the Michael P. Brady Track & Field Complex.
The Fordham women had the better day, finishing third out of five teams with 104 points, while the men were fourth out of five teams with 67 points.
The Rams had three event wins on the day, two of which were on the women's side, beginning with
Clodagh McGroary winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 12:04.63. She also scored in the 800 meters, where teammates
Brenna Sears and
Megan McCann placed first and second, respectively, in 2:20.91 and 2:21.09. McGroary was then seventh in 2:28.83.
On top of the two track wins, Fordham saw a women's school record set on Friday, as
Michaela Gier cleared a school record 10' 6" in the pole vault for fourth place, breaking the old mark of 9' 6 ¼" by Maggie McGowan in 2009.
Other top performances started with
Meredith Gotzman grabbing second in the 1,500 meters at 4:45.81 with
Madeleine Ryan scoring eighth in 4:58.64. In the 200-meter dash,
Skylar Harris scored third in 26.31 seconds with
Alexandra Williams in sixth (26.62) and
Michele Daye in seventh (26.74), while
Sarah Zahaykevich placed sixth in the 3,000-meter run (10:44.54).
Harris also scored in the long jump, posting a mark of 17' 4 ¾", good for sixth. In the remaining jumping events,
Zoe Arakelian was second in the high jump, clearing 5' 3", while
Leia Ruvo was third in both the high jump (5' 3") and triple jump (36' 2") events.
The Rams also scored in the 100-meter hurdles and 4x400 relay with
Sarah Cooley finishing in the top eight in three throwing events. First,
Kylie Ritz (15.30) and
Nicole Lytle (15.65) were fourth and sixth respectively in the 100-meter hurdles, while the 4x400 relay team of Gotzman,
Alexis Smith, Ryan, and
Grace Kenny placed fifth in 4:21.18. Cooley was then fourth in the javelin throw (110' 6"), sixth in the shot put (36' 8 ½") and eighth in the discus throw (108' 10").
On the men's side,
Dakota Strain was the lone event winner, taking first in the 200-meter dash in 22.94 seconds ahead of teammates
Matthew Nurse (2
nd – 23.06) and
Safo Kirton (8
th – 23.91).
Another big scoring event for the Rams was the 3,000-meter run, where Fordham scored second, third, and fourth.
Darren Croke was second in the event at 8:49.86, followed by
Jack Boerger in third (8:51.65) and
Matthew McCabe in fourth (8:51.75).
The last scorer on the track was
Eric Galante in the 100-meter dash, taking fifth in 11.94 seconds. He was also second in the long jump with a distance of 22' 10 ½".
Other top track performers were
Sam Freeman in the 800 meters (12
th – 2:02.59),
Yariv Simhony in the 1,500 meters (13
th – 4:09.32), and
George Pomer in the 110-meter hurdles (9
th – 16.91).
Pomer did find the scoring column in the field events, as he was third in the javelin throw (154' 10") and tied for fifth in the high jump, clearing 5' 10 ¾". Joining him in the high jump was
DaRon Elam, who placed second, clearing 6' 2 ¾".
The Fordham track & field team will next be in action on Saturday, March 30
th, at the Sam Howell Invitational, hosted at Princeton University.
