By Eddie Young
Sports Editor
The College hosted its first track and field event of the season on campus this weekend. Both the men’s and women's teams showed out in the event that spanned three days from April 11-13.
The men started off their charge with great performances in the 100 meter dash. Seniors Ray Schmitt and Justin Gomez took the top two podium spots in this event, with Schmitt coming in first with a time of 10.68 seconds and Gomez in second with 11.02 seconds.
Another first place finisher was freshman hurdler Nate Adams. He won the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 16.08 seconds. This was Adams’ first individual victory of his career.
“It feels great to earn my first collegiate win,” said Adams, an undeclared business major. “The whole team has been working very hard so it is nice to see the hard work paying off.”
Adams also put together an impressive performance in the 400 meter hurdles. He just barely finished in second, earning a time of 56.70 seconds.
The College’s 4x400 meter relay team also earned first place in their event. The team, consisting of sophomore Jeffrey Heineman, sophomore P.J. Fragomeni, freshman Aidan Ferraez and freshman Lucas Lattimer, finished with a time of 3:30.72 — a little more than two seconds ahead of the second place Rutgers-Newark team.
The Lions also dominated the 800 meter event. While the top spot was taken by Finn Morley from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, the next three finishers were all Lions, and they all had times within six-hundredths of a second. Sophomore Kevin Matthews ran the race in 2:00.37 and took second place. Sophomore Roman Fabbricatore came in right behind Matthew, earning a time of 2:00.38 and a third place finish. Junior Michael Rodriguez came in fourth, finishing in 2:00.43.
On the field side of things, the men for the Lions earned two third place finishes. Freshman Christian Farhat earned third in the shot put with a furthest throw of 14.16 meters, and sophomore Jayvee Dumas placed third in the pole vault with a high mark of 4.30 meters.
The women’s track and field team also put together an amazing weekend. On the track, sophomore Cameron Ruffini took home a first place finish in the 100 meter dash timed final. She ran the event in 13.14 seconds.
The Lions also showed out the 1500 meter event. Senior Cassidy Quinn earned a victory with a time of 5:00.69. Senior Emily Hoegler also did great in the event, finishing in third with a time of 5:05.04.
Senior Katherine Rice also put together a great showing during the weekend. She finished in second in the 800 meter with a time of 2:21.87, just one second behind the first place finisher.
The hammer throw was dominated by the College, with four Lions finishing inside the top six. Junior Jessica Reilly won the event with a long throw of 47.62 meters. Junior Kerri McCarthy finished right behind her teammate in second place with a 45.48 meter throw. Senior Edith Gonzalez came in third with a throw of 43.62 meters. Junior Emily Diszler finished in sixth with a 40.99 meter throw, rounding out the dominance in this event from the Lions.
The College also did well in the discus throw, earning two top five finishers. Freshman Kaydence Fischer came in second in the event with a long throw of 36.75 meters, while Reilly added onto her hammer victory with a fifth place finish in discus, throwing it 34.42 meters.
After this great weekend in Ewing, the Lions will now look to carry this momentum ahead to next weekend, when they will compete in the Widener Invitational at Widener University on April 19 and 20.
