The Muhlenberg men’s and women’s track and field teams have started their season off strong with personal records (PR), team records, and first-place finishes as they prepare for future meets. The team began their season back on Dec. 2 at Lehigh University and has since been training and building strength as the season progresses. Being a little over halfway through the season, the Mules have seen much success in the eight meets they’ve competed in so far, and are keeping their mindsets positive moving forward. One of the women’s team captains, Faith Fezenko ‘24, reflects on the team and the season, “We have a very talented team this year that is more dedicated than we have seen in previous years. So far, I think even if some individuals, including myself, are not where we want to be yet, we are still on track for a successful indoor season.”
Through the ups and downs that a track season brings, the team has been able to keep a confident outlook as the season progresses and as the Conference Championship meet approaches. This kind of mindset has helped lead to strong performances, such as those seen in last Friday’s track meet. On Friday, Feb. 2, the men’s and women’s track teams traveled to compete in the NYC DIII Invitational at the Armory and were met with many positive results.
One of the men’s team’s captains, Charles Ohanian ‘24 said, “We had a great meet at the Armory on Friday! The highlights were the hurdlers, with Sam [McDonough ‘24] breaking the 60-meter hurdles school record and Maya [Richwine ‘27] winning the 60-meter hurdles, improving her #2 all-time Muhlenberg mark. Maya also ran the second fastest indoor 200-meter time in school history.”
In addition to Richwine’s first-place finish in the 60m hurdles and her third-place finish in the 200, other top ten finishes at the Armory include Shira Gamson ‘26 (5th) and Shanice Williams ‘26 (7th) in the triple jump, David Seel ‘27 (4th) in the 800, Chris Short ‘27 (6th) in the 400, Michael Powel ‘26 (5th) in the shot put and Dylan DeMagistris ‘24 (5th) in the weight throw.
This meet not only revealed the team to be in great shape, but it also offered them the chance to compete in an extremely high-energy and motivating environment that they do not get the chance to compete in each week. Fezenko said, “The Armory provides an experience that not many other meets do. The schools that attend this meet are very competitive and it provides a bonding experience for our team. It is a supportive atmosphere like no other, not only between our teams but between other teams there as well.”
Support and competitiveness continued the following day at a different meet as other members of the team traveled to Collegeville, Pa. to compete in the Frank Colden Invitational at Ursinus College on Saturday, Feb. 3. At this meet, the top ten performances on the team consisted of Natasha Furyk ‘25 (4th) in the 5000, Paola Navarro ‘25 (7th) in the 60m hurdles, Jaden Snow ‘27 (6th) in the 1,000 and (7th) in the 60m hurdles, and Sebastian Montalvo ‘27 (8th) in the 3,000.
After strong marks this weekend, the track and field team hopes to keep this momentum going into the rest of the season, especially into the indoor Conference Championship meet and eventually into the outdoor season. When considering goals for what is to come for Muhlenberg track and field, Ohanian said, “We are looking to place higher than last year in both the indoor and outdoor conference meets. On the men’s side, our big goal is to finish top three at the outdoor conference meet and to send a couple [of] athletes to nationals.”
The Mules plan to move closer to these goals with each meet, including next week at Ocean Breeze. This Friday, Feb. 9, Muhlenberg track & field travels to Staten Island to compete at the Fasttrack National Invite, setting out to see more first-place finishes and broken school records on the road to reach this season’s goals.
