NEW YORK, NY – The Johns Hopkins men's track and field team laced up for the first time in 2024 to take part in the TCNJ Invitational Friday afternoon, claiming one win and a trio of top-five finishes in the program's first action in over a month.
 
A trio of Blue Jays set new personal-best times in the preliminary rounds of the 60 and 60-meter hurdles in Carter Chui, Alex Colletti and James Reilly. The freshmen duo of Chui and Colletti both PR'd in the 60-meter sprint with times of 7.27 and 7.40 to finish 19^th and 29^th respectively, while Reilly's 8.72-second PR in the 60-meter hurdles was enough for him to qualify for the final in seventh place, though the junior did not take part in the final race.
 
Spencer Ye and Francesco Ferrera were the first pair of Hopkins athletes to claim top 20 finishes in a final in the 200-meter race, with Ye's 23.06 time placing him in 11^th followed by Ferrera's 16^th-place finish with a time of 23.24. This was followed by the Blue Jays' first podium of the day in the 800-meter race via Zach Martin. The junior was the first DIII athlete to cross the line and third overall with a time of 1:57.63.
 
Another podium-finish followed in the 500-meter, with Colletti finishing in third with a time 1:06.09 to complete his impressive afternoon. Coming in just behind the freshman was Fisayo Omonije, who finished in fourth with a time of 1:06.27, with Joshua Lee's time of 1:07.37 sneaking the sophomore into the top 10.
 
Hopkins' found plenty of success in Friday's distance events, claiming four combined top-10 finishes between the mile and 3000-meter race. Lance Nicholls was the first to finish in the top 10 in the mile, claiming ninth with a time of 4:30.36 before the trio of Connor Oiler, Sean Enright and Rowan Cassidy completed the quartet in the 3000. Oiler was the first to finish in fifth with a time of 8:38.89 to set a new personal best, with Enright (6^th – 8:42.91) and Cassidy (8:43.58) also earning spots in the top 10.
 
Narrowly missing out on the first 10 finishers were Arjun Subramanian in the mile — the junior crossed the line in 12^th with a time of 4:34.27 — juniors Andrew Myers and Matthew Sandifer, who finished 11^th and 12^th in the 3000.
 
Friday's track events concluded with the team's first win of the afternoon in the 4x400 in which the Blue Jays took home the top spot with a time of 3:24.34 besting the likes of both St. Peter's and Fordham.
 
In the field events it was Aidan Rothstein, Peter Lim, Ryan Braga and Leo Anderson all finishing in the top-15 of their respective events to round out a successful day. Rothstein and Lim got things started in the pole vault, finishing in 10^th and 12^th with vaults of 3.85 and 3.70 meters respectively, following up by 10^th- and 15^th-place finishes in the shot put from Braga and Anderson. The day ended with Braga who set a new personal best in the weight throw with a toss of 12.00 meters to take home 12^th.
 
Next up for Hopkins are the Gotham Cup Friday, Jan. 19 in Staten Island, NY and the Robert Comstock Cardinal Classic Saturday, Jan. 20 taking place in nearby Landover, MD.