STATEN ISLAND, NY (Dec. 1, 2023) - Georgian Court Track and Field showed up in a big way to start their season Friday afternoon at the Fastrack Season Opener. Two Lions set new school records among a long list of personal-bests and all-time top-10 marks at GCU.

Sprints/Hurdles
• Georgian Court women all raced at 400m and below. Shalom Adzakro represented the Lions in the preliminaries and finals of the 60m hurdles. She ran 9.36 in round one to advance to finals, then bettered than running 9.17 to finish in second place. The time is a new personal-best and is tied for third all-time at Georgian Court.
• Shelby Yager made a great first impression in the 200m. In her first collegiate race she ran 26.09 to finish 11th. She was the fastest Division II runner in the field and her time puts her fifth all-time in Lions history. It's the fastest indoor 200m dash time since the 2019-20 season.
• In the 60m dash Samantha Lonseth finished 31st running 8.40 in the invite section of the race.
• Four Lions ran the 400m. Aaliyah Thorpe led the pack in 20th place running 1:03.11. Niya Barden and Molly Burns set personal-bests. Barden was 23rd in 1:03.71. Burns set an indoor PR by nearly three seconds running 1:05.80. Selma Cazimoska ran 1:13.41 to finish in 45th place.
• The Lion men's sprinters also had a terrific opening day. In the 60m hurdles, Julien Rodriguez matched a personal-best running 8.67 and tied for 10th place.
• Two Lions entered the GCU top-10 in the short sprints. Raphael Wolf ran 7.22 in the 60m dash which was 17th at the meet and fifth all-time in Lions history. Joshua Tipaldo finished in 26th place running 7.97.
• Andrew Moore is tied for eighth in Lions history in the 200m after just one collegiate meet. He finished 24th running 23.20. Nicholas Jordan placed 53rd in 24.75.
• There's a new school record holder in the indoor 400m and his name is Wayne Robinson. Robinson has now broken the 400m school record in back-to-back meets. He broke the 400m record outdoors at last year's conference meet to finish the 2022-23 season and now he starts the 2023-24 season breaking the indoor 400m record. Robinson ran 49.79 to finish third overall. He's the first Lion to ever run sub 50 seconds indoors.
• Also in the 400m, Seth Powell, James McCoy and Marcos Murillo-Benavides ran their first collegiate races. Powell placed 23rd in 52.37, McCoy was 36th in 53.44 and Murillo-Benavides 41st in 53.67.

Distance
• Robinson wasn't the only Lion to break a school record. Xavier Seals, no stranger to setting records as he broke the cross country 8K record, put his name atop the Lions all-time list in the 3K running 8:53.86 to place third in the meet.
• Joseph Jamolawicz took 20th in the 3K race running 10:01.24.
• After a successful first cross country season, Ryan Pettrow has carried that over to the track. In his first collegiate track meet the freshman ran 4:34.98 for the mile which is 10th in GCU history and was 16th at the meet. Thomas Rosky placed 40th in 5:05.22.
• Kyle Spector started his track season running his first indoor 5,000m. He set a new person-best running 15:55.46 and finshed ninth in the field. His time is also fourth in Lions history indoors. 

Jumps
• Rodriguez wasn't finished after the 60m hurdles. He also set a new PR in the long jump where he placed 20th jumping 21-2.75 which puts him seventh all-time at GCU. He also finished 11th in the pole vault clearing 13-1.5.
• Sean Donnamaria set a new personal-best in the vault clearing 12-1.75. That mark placed him 16th and is sixth all-time at GCU indoors.
• Wolf also had a big jump and is in the top-10 at GCU in not just the 60m, but also the long jump where his mark of 20-7.75 is tied for ninth all-time. Wolf hit the mark on his final jump of the day. On his first collegiate jump, Emmanuel Vargas hit 19-9.75 to place 33rd.
• After running the 60mh, Shalom Adzakro made her way over to the long jump put where she advanced to the final round. She placed fifth jumping 16-9.5. Adzakro had four jumps of over five meters.
• Tiffany Parajon had a top-10 finish as well in the high jump where she cleared 4-9.

Throws
• In the mens shot put, GCU put two in the top-five. Robbie Babson finished fourth throwing 48-4. 
• Malicah Etienne was right behind Babson in fifth place. Etienne had a big final throw of 48-1.5 which moved up him three places into fifth and also is tied for eight all-time in school history indoors.
• Malik Bails finished just outside the top-10 in 11th place throwing 42-10.25. 
• Over in the men's weight throw, Babson finished just outside the top-10 in 11th placing throwing 42-9.
• Malicah Etinne and Anthony Lorenzo placed back-to-back in 19th and 20th. Etienne threw 34-4 and Lorenzo 34-2.
• Ingrid Rivera-Zuniga competed in the shot put. She improved on each throw and her final mark of 29-5.25 was good for 19th place. 
• In the weight throw, the Lion women had a pair of freshmen compete. Chimaka Wokocha placed 16th throwing 29-0 and Sabrina Halk was 19th with a mark of 27-9. 

The good day from the Lions is going to have to count for a while as they aren't on the track again until 2024. This is the only meet on the schedule for the fall semester. They return Jan. 12, 2024 at the TCNJ Indoor Invitational at the Armory.