Virginia Beach, Va. – (February 27, 2026) – The Fordham women's track & field team had a successful first day at the 2026 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track & Field Championship, which is being held at the Virginia Beach Sports Center Virginia.
 
After day one, Fordham sits in fifth place with 21 points, behind George Mason (46), VCU (31), Dayton (29), and Richmond (22).
 
DAY 1 FORDHAM WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS

• Six women's events were scored on Friday with the Rams scoring in three of those events.
• Fordham started out with its pole vault duo of Michaela Gier and Tomara Seid both scoring in the event.  Both Rams cleared 11' 3 ¾" with Gier scoring sixth (less vaults) with Seid in seventh.
• Leia Ruvo then claimed the first medal for the Rams, taking silver and Second Team All-Atlantic 10 honors in the pentathlon with a score of 3,602 points, just 39 behind gold medalist Raegan Ernst of Dayton.  Ruvo was first in the high jump (5' 5 ¾") and long jump (18' 2 ½"), third in the 800 meters (2:26.43), eighth in the shot put (33' 1/4"), and 14^th in the 60-meter hurdles (9.55).  
• She is only the second Ram to medal in the pentathlon, joining Jeana Fletcher in 2009 (gold).
• Fordham picked up a second silver medal and Second Team All-Atlantic 10 honors in the distance medley relay, as Meredith Gotzman, Alexandra Williams, Brenna Sears, and Jodie Pierce posted a time of 11:48.09.  This was Fordham's third medal performance at the Atlantic 10 Championship in the distance medley relay (1996 – gold; 2019 – silver).
• In addition to the three scoring events, Fordham qualified for three Saturday finals as well.
• Kylie Ritz opened the meet by qualifying for the 60-meter hurdles finals with a school record time of 8.66 seconds, breaking her own mark of 8.67.  She also finished 15^th in the 60-meter dash at 7.84 seconds.
• Williams added a finals appearance in the 400 meters on top of her DMR silver medal, posting a time of 56.88 seconds.
• Sears followed suit by qualifying for the 1,000-meter run final, after recording a qualifying time of 2:55.68.
• In the 500 meters, Alondra Baez was the top Ram, taking 11^th in 1:18.30, while Fabianna Szorenyi was 20^th in the 5,000 meters in 17:54.49.

 
UP NEXT

• Day two of the championship begins at 10:00 AM on Saturday.