The men’s track and field team took 14 victories, while the women had eight first-place finishes on March 26 at the Jim Taylor Invitational at Susquehanna University. Both teams recorded impressive performances for this early in the season. Five Bison men qualified for the IC4A Outdoor Championships, and six Bison women qualified for the ECAC Outdoor Championships.

Some notable performances for the men include Grant Reynolds ’16, who finished first out of 13 runners in the 110-meter hurdles. He crossed the finish line in 14.80 seconds, scoring an IC4A-qualifying time. The Orange and Blue took first place in the men’s 4×100-meter relay with Danny Gevirtz ’16, Reynolds, Rocco Ordille ’19, and Griffin Robertson ’16 claiming an IC4A-qualifying time of 42.26 seconds. Bison football athlete Ordille recently joined the track and field team, proving to be a strong addition with his first-place finish in the 100-meter dash. John Westwood ’16 continued to succeed after an incredible indoor season, finishing first in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:03.60. Matthew Fay ’19 won pole vault, clearing 15-5, while Mark Stafurik ’16 finished first in the hammer throw, recording a heave of 175-6.

“For a first meet, it is the best we’ve had. No one seemed nervous and everyone was having fun and getting excited to be back on the track. I think that lead to a lot of our success even if the weather conditions were not ideal,” Gevirtz said.

Significant performances for the Bison women were also plentiful. Sophia Nnadi ’16 took first out of 32 competitors in the hammer throw, claiming an ECAC-qualifying throw of 161-06. Nnadi also finished first in the discus throw and second in the shot put. Jess Bridle ’16 is still on fire from her indoor season, winning the 200-meter dash with an ECAC-qualifying time of 24.70 seconds. Her performance is also the third-fastest time in school history. Jen Silvestri ’16 claimed first in the 400-meter hurdles, beating 22 other runners on the track. She crossed the finish line in 1:01.81, which also qualified her for ECACs.

“I think that we really showed our strength and versatility as a team during our opening meet this weekend. Our girls were able to come off of spring break and a hard week of training to perform in their outdoor events. This sets us up really well for the next few meets down south,” Silvestri said.

The Bison track and field team will travel to Williamsburg, Va. April 1-2 to compete in the Colonial Relays.