Staten Island, NY - Members of the Wagner College men's and women's track & field opened the 2023 indoor season at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Friday, December 1, for the Fast Track Season Opener.
Only a portion of both the men's and women's track & field teams competed at the event.
For the women's team, Ruth-Ann Chambers took home first place in both the 60m dash invitational and in the 200m dash. The Kingston, Jamaica native finished the 60m in 7.70, and completed the 200m in 25.23, standing alone atop 64 race finishers in the 200m.
Also in the 200m, freshman June Fernandez placed in the top five, with a fourth place finish. Fernandez was victorious within her heat, crossing the finish line in 25.46.
Freshman Victoria Gontoqicz earned fourth in the 60m dash, finishing in 8.24. Junior Agathe Yabit placed closely behind in eighth with a time of 8.52.
In the 800m run, senior Kaia Nowak placed fourth while senior Hannah Fulco finished 17th. Nowak's time was 2:26.08, and Fulco's was 2:54.82.
Senior Gabriella Menendez ran the 400m dash in 1:03.09, for 19th place out of 49 possible participants.
In the field, sophomore Saranda Capani found herself tied for first in the pole vault, clearing a mark of 3.06m on her first attempt.
Sophomore Julia Garcia jumped 4.90m on her third attempt in the long jump, finding herself in ninth place out of 26 participants. Garcia also placed fifth in triple jump, with a distance of 10.98m, which she also received on her third attempt.
Yabit also participated in the triple jump, landing in eighth with a mark of 10.56m on her first attempt.
For the men's team, senior Anthony Bentivegna earned first in the 5000m run. Bentivegna never dropped below second place during the race, and finished in 14:46.9. Junior Justin Morris also ran in the 5000m, finishing in eighth place and a time of 15:42.17.
Sophomore Hunter Longo and freshman Nigel Boboli ran in the mile run. Longo finished eighth out of the 47 runners, and Boboli in 13th. Longo's mile time was 4:25.3, with Boboli closely trailing with a time of 4:31.47.
In the 60m dash, the freshman duo of Khalil Wason and Dalil Suluki both placed top 15. Wason placed seventh with a time of 7.38, while Suluki placed in 14th with a time of 7.57.
Sophomore Dante Rodney placed 28th in the 400m dash with a time of 24.57.
In the 200m dash, the Seahawks had three top 10 finishers. Sophomore Alex Taddeo came away with fourth and time of 22.35 Freshman Jack Mason placed eighth with a time of 22.58, and fellow freshman Aleix Fuchs boasted a time of 22.69 to place himself in tenth.
In relays, the quartet of Fuchs, senior Jason Marchese, sophomore Arjanvir Singh, and freshman Shawn Keegan placed second in the 4x400, trailing first-place Rowan by less than a second. Marchese anchored the group and produced a 46.98 400m split for the Seahawks.
In the field, junior Kharlin Watkins paced tenth in the high jump with a height of 1.89m.
Sophomore Julio Martinez and senior Ryan Lane placed top ten in the pole vault. Martinez finished in sixth with a height cleared of 4.30m, and Lane placed tenth with a mark of 4.15m.
The Seahawks added three more top ten finishes in the long jump. Ryan Lane placed second with a distance of 7.23m, with Jack Mason raising his own 7.22m for third place. Kharlin Watkins finished with his second tenth place finish of the day after jumping 6.91m on his first attempt.
Freshman Andrew Wood placed twelfth in the triple jump. Wood's best attempt came on his first, with a distance of 12.87m.
Next up, the Seahawks will be back in action at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Friday, December 8, for the Wagner College Shootout.
