By Tom Terzulli
Laurel Fisher won gold in the 3000m steeplechase. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)
For the third week in a row, Fordham Track and Field returned to Virginia for some weekend action. This time, George Mason University played host to the Mason Spring Invitational in Fairfax.
Sophomore Laurel Fisher was the star of the show, winning the 3000m steeplechase. The Garden City, New York native won the gold with a time of 11:07.12.
Another top performer was Nkeka Pinheiro. The sophomore finished in the top 20 in both the 200m and 400m. She was 17th in the 200m, finishing in 25.70 and 13th in the 400m, crossing the line in 57.59.
Fellow sophomore Mary Kate Kenny finished right behind Pinheiro in the 200m. She placed 18th with a time of 25.80. Meanwhile, sophomore Morgan Menzzasalma grabbed 21st in the 400m hurdles in 1:07.26.
Junior Merissa Wright led the way in distance action, finishing 15th (2:13.65) in the 800m. Sophomore Aidan Moroz followed in 34th (2:19.75).
Senior Shanna Heaney rounded out the Ram women on the track. She placed 21st in the 1500m run at 4:42.33.
In field events, freshman Gabriella Gavalas earned a pair of top 20 finishes. She garnered 13th in the triple jump at 11.35 meters and 14th in the long jump, reaching 5.38 meters.
On the men’s side, there were four Rams in the top 10. The pairing of junior Louis Santelli (1:52.59) and freshman Michael Petersen (1:52.83) finished second and third respectively in the 800m. Junior Brian Cook secured seventh in the 3000m steeplechase in 9:48.99. In the javelin, senior Nicholas Regan took fourth with a throw of 57.16 meters.
The men also entered a Ram a piece in the 100m and 400m. Freshman Richard Webber was 21st overall in the 100m in 11.06 seconds and sophomore Jared Benn was 11th best in the 400m (49.60).
The final competitors were a quartet of runners in the 1500m. Junior Thomas Slattery (37th-3:57.62), junior Fritz Heinrich (43rd-3:59.62), sophomore Sean Phillips (59th-4:01.61) and senior Devin Rocks (62nd-4:01.97) were the finishers.
Fordham’s one relay team came from the women. The team of Gavalas, Pinheiro, Kenny and Menzzasalma took 11th in the 4x100m relay with a time of 49.91 seconds.
After all the scores were tallied, the men finished 12th in the team standings with 21 points, while the women placed 20th at 10 points.
The Virginia trip comes to an end on April 14th and 15th. The Metropolitan Championship in Piscataway, NJ will be the site.
The Fordham Ram 
