After successful meets in Boston and New York, the Iona College men’s and women’s track and field teams headed back home for their next meet. On Jan. 30, the Gaels traveled to Armory Track and Field Center in New York for the 2014 Metropolitan Championships.

The men’s track and field team’s performance was headlined by three freshmen who finished in first, second and third place in the 3,000-meter event. Andy Adamovics finished first out of the three with a time of 8:36.61. Right behind him in second and third place were Andrew Tario and Daniel Galford respectively. Tario ran a 8:39.97, and Galford finished right behind him with a final time of 8:42.22, three seconds faster than the fourth place finisher.

Senior Jimmy Tarsnane represented the Gaels nicely in the mile run, finishing fifth with a time of 4:23.49. Tarsnane finished a mere six seconds behind the first place finisher in the event. Tarsnane’s teammate, freshman Ross Wightman, finished in 10th place with a time of 4:25.96.

Tarsnane reflected on returning to action after being held out due to injury.

“It was one of my first races back,” Tarsnane said. “I can only improve from here.”

The women’s track and field team featured a couple of top-15 finishers in the 800-meter run, the mile and the 60-meter hurdles. Junior Marlene Delices was the top performer for the Gaels in the 800-meter run, finishing ninth with a time of 2:21.10. Representing Iona in the mile run was freshman Zoe Wojtech, who finished 13th with a final time of 5:29.94. Her teammate, freshman Marianna Sticca, finished 15th in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 10.46 seconds. Finishing in 18th for the Gaels in the 60-meter hurdles was freshman Victoria Moynihan with a final time of 11.57 seconds.

On Feb. 1, three members of the Gaels men’s and women’s track and field teams represented the college at the Lions Invitational hosted by Columbia University.

For the women, sophomore Kate Avery set a new school record for the mile-run with a time of 4:38.24, good enough for top collegiate finisher and second place overall. Her time also placed her as sixth best in NCAA Division I for this season at the time of the event.

The men were represented by freshman Chartt Miller and junior Ethan Heywood. Miller finished first in the second heat of the event with a time of 4:05.55, while his teammate Ethan Heywood finished eighth in heat two and 17th overall with a final time of 4:11.97.

On Feb. 7, five Gaels traveled to Boston to compete in the 2014 BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational hosted by Boston University. The Gaels were represented by freshman Maya Rehberg and junior Regina Neumeyer in the mile run, and they finished ninth and 10th with times of 4:44.30 and 4:44.67. Delices and senior Tara Jameson competed in the 800-meter and 3,000-meter events respectively. Jameson finished 42nd in the 3K with a time of 9:52.86, and Delices finished 47th overall in the 800 with a final time of 2:16.74, which was a personal best.

A day later the men competed in Boston and were led by incredible performances in the mile by senior Matthew Gillespie, sophomore Kieran Clements and Miller. Gillespie ran the mile in 3:58.48, which was the program’s fourth-ever sub-four-minute mile. Clements finished with a final time of 4:00.36 (11th overall), and Miller had a final time of 4:00.99 (16th overall). In the 3,000-meter event senior Nick Lachman ran an 8:21.34, which was good enough for 30th place.

Tarsnane was proud of the way some of his teammates performed and is looking forward for the remainder of the season.

“Overall, everyone did really well,” Tarsnane said. “We had a few guys that ran personal best times. I’m excited to see how we do in the championship season.”

The next meet for Iona is the Iowa State Classic on Feb. 14.