Junior Alex Masai placed fourth in the 2019 Penn Relays 5000-meter run on Thursday, April 25 to lead the Hofstra track team in their multiples meets of the weekend. Three days later, Masai along with his teammates headed to New Haven, Connecticut to compete in the Yale Springtime Invitational.
On Thursday night, Masai crossed the line in a time of 14:08.11, six seconds behind winner Mohamed Hrezi (14:02.54), putting him in fourth place among the collegiate field of runners, and sixth place overall. Masai came up just short of defending his title, winning the 2018 Penn Relays 5K in a time of 14:00.07. However, his fourth place finish currently sits at the fastest time in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) this season, along with his 10K time from the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic two weeks ago which also currently sits at number one in the CAA.
Three days after Masai’s Penn Relays race, he and the rest of the Hofstra track team competed in the Yale Springtime Invitational meet hosted at the Dewitt Cuyler Athletic Complex and Dwyer Track.
In the men’s 100-meter dash, freshman Gavin Jones led the way in 14th in 12.25 seconds while junior Felipe Fontes and freshman Ralph Licciardi followed quickly behind in 16th and 17th with times of 12.57 and 12.79, respectively. Steven Fiumefreddo, Masai, Paul Markovina, and Sean Masterson placed 18th, 20th, 21st and 22nd respectively.
In the women’s 100-meter dash, Hofstra saw juniors Sarah El Bouzaidi and Sara Bornstein lead the way in 19th and 20th in times of 14.71 and 14.92. Finishing next were freshman Abby Briggs in 23rd and Fatimah Mozzowala in 24th, with 12 more Hofstra runners claiming 25th through 36th place.
Rounding out the Pride in the sprints were sophomores Danny Pires and Felix Smith Halle, placing 20th in the 200-meter dash in a time of 26:37 and 15th in the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:03.80, respectively.
Hofstra had five runners in the 800-meter run with senior Ryan Connell in 10th in a time of 2:05.87, freshman Tyler McPartland in 12th in 2:07.62, and Andrew Giovinazzo and Konrad Rynkowski following behind in 15th and 16th. Sophomore Alyssa Suits was the sole woman running for the Pride placing 17th in 2:48.21.
Sophomores Tosin Ibironke and Megan Boese represented Hofstra in the men’s and women’s 1500-meter race, placing 9th and 24th respectively in times of 4:17.73 and 5:39.60.
In the distance races, freshman Sophia Masciarelli clocked a 3000-meter time of 11:06.43 putting her in 14th while sophomore Marc Meltzer finished the 5000-meter in 13th with a time of 17:02.79.
Both the Hofstra men and women also entered a 4×100-meter relay team with the women finishing in 5th in 1:05.60 and the men in 7th in 48.30.
In the field events, Pires and Alex Cianciolo both placed eighth in the long jump for the men and women respectively, posting jumps of 5.09 meters and 4.27 meters. Classmate Francesca Decaro followed behind in the women’s long jump in ninth with a jump of 3.66 meters while freshmen Meghan Fawcett and Danielle Bogachua placed 12th and 13th in the shot put thanks to distances of 5.44 meters and 4.86 meters.
The Pride will be back on the track for their last meet of the regular season on Thursday, May 9, when they compete in the Army West Point Twilight Invitational.
