On February 21, the men’s and women’s track and field teams ran at the Golden Bear Invitational hosted by Kutztown, and on the 22, they attended the West Point Tune-Up in West Point, NY. On the first day, the Ducks saw opponents like Drew, FDU-Florham, Immaculata, Kutztown, Lancaster Bible, Messiah, Muhlenberg, and Swarthmore, and on the second day they went up against Army, Vassar, and Merchant Marine Academy.
At the Golden Bear Invitational, juniors Stephanie Ryazanova and Alexis Merola both got wins. Merola notched her win in pole vault at 3.35m, .01m behind the school record, and Ryazanova in the 55-meter hurdles at 9.2 seconds. Ryazanova also ran in the 55m, taking second with a time of 7.85.
The men’s team was also successful in the 55m, with sophomore Doug Winant notably setting the school record at 6.6 seconds in the prelims, landing him second place. In the finals, he ended in fourth place in 6.73 seconds, followed by sophomore Tyler Hackett at fifth with a 6.75 time and junior Brandon Kiefer in sixth at 6.95. Their events continued, with senior Rai Bindra placing fourth and fifth in the 400m and 200m, respectively, first-year Calvin Gibson taking fifth, and Kiefer scoring a victory in the 55-hurdles. In the field events, graduate student Andrew Anantharajah, senior Cullen Grady, and first-year David Huang all landed top-eight marks in the pole vault.
The next day, the teams traveled to the Army to run at the West Point Tune-Up. Sophomore Kaitlyn Adams, graduate student Allie Canciani, and junior Isabel Vogel all scored wins, with Adams in the 1000-meter, Canciani in the high jump, and Vogel in the 400-meter. Along with the high jump, Canciani placed fifth in the 800-meter. First-year Anya Sadowski, junior Gianna Adamo, and sophomore Breona Pizzuta all finished on the podium at third, with Sadowksi in the 400m, Adamo in the 1000m, and Pizzuta in the high jump. Senior Samantha Rozek ran a sixth place 11:28.01 time in the 3000m, followed by first-year Catherine Bondi at eighth. Pizzuta also took part in the shot put and the weight throw, with first-year Lillian Lovelsmith also participating in the shot put.
Many of the guys notched podium times, with first-year Enrico Parella getting a victory in the 1000m, followed by first-year Matthew Hodorowski in second. Sophomore Ryan Paradine took third in the 800m, and senior Jake Porco and junior Caleb Stephen took second and fifth in the mile, respectively. The 4x400m team of graduate students Jake Aylmer, Frank Orlando, Liam Concannon, and Paradine secured the final third place of the day. In the 3000m, first-year Cillian Griffin took ninth, Adamo on his tail at 11th. The Ducks were also successful in the 800m, including Aylmer at 7th (2:02.77), Concannon at eighth (2:03.25), first-year Kevin Medrow in ninth (2:04.32), and graduate student Bryan Onody (2:05.54) and Orlando (2:07.29) coming in at 10th and 13th. For the field events, junior Manny Vega competed in the shot put and weight throw, with senior Brandon Fox in the weight throw with him. Ending those events, first-years Connor Efinger and Bruno Santana-Ferro participated in the high jump.
The next time the Ducks will be seen running will be at the two-day Middle Atlantic Conference Championship Meet, starting February 28, in Reading, PA.
