Staten Island, N.Y. – (January 10, 2025) – The Fordham track & field team returned to competition on Friday following their winter break at the Spartan Invitational, hosted by St. Thomas Aquainas College at the Ocean Breeze Track & Field Complex on Staten Island.
The Rams had a strong day winning five events on the day, while setting one school record.
The school record came early in the day, as
Michaela Gier cleared 11' 0" in the pole vault event to finish second overall. She broke her own mark from last season (10' 10 ½").
For event wins,
Rodolfo Sanchez started the first place finishes in the men's 3,000-meter run, clocking in at 8:21.26. The next win came in the women's high jump, where
Leia Ruvo cleared 5' 3" to take the event.
Katarina Birimac was the next victor in the women's mile run, posting a time of 4:58.05.
The first place finishes continued in the women's 200-meter dash, where
Jasmine Hope won the event in 24.86 seconds, while the last win was the women's distance medley relay team of
Meredith Gotzman,
Lauren Raimy,
Sarah Zahaykevich, and Birimac registering a time of 12:20.70. Hope was also second in the 60-meter dash in 7.73 seconds, while Raimy was third in the 1,000-meter run in 3:05.79
Aside from Sanchez's win for the men,
Ben Borchers was another top performer, taking second in the mile run in 4:20.15, while
Sam Freeman and
Liam Volz each earned a fourth place finish in the 500 meters (1:05.49) and the 60 meters (7.00), respectively.
Aidan Hickey continued the top five performances with a second place finish in the 800 meters in 1:56.79, followed by
Matthew Febles in the 1,000 meters (5
th – 2:33.43) and
Njam Abdul-Latif in the 200 meters (3
rd – 21.71).
The last top five finishes were in the men's relay events with the distance medley relay of
Darren Croke,
Anan Bauman,
Jake Frayler and Hickey, placing fourth in 10:33.17, and the 4x400 relay of Freeman,
Yariv Simhony,
George Pomer, and
Matthew Nurse taking third in 3:27.28.
On top of the four event wins for the Fordham women, other top performers were
Kylie Ritz in the 60-meter hurdles (2
nd - 8.95),
Zoe Arakelian in the high jump (2
nd - 5' 3"), and the women's 4x400 relay of
Alexandria Yarbrough,
Dillyn Green,
Ellie Harkins, and Ruvo, who were fourth in 4:08.70.
The Rams are next in action on Friday, January 17
th, at the Ramapo College Season Opener, which will be held at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York.
