Results

SWARTHMORE, PA (May 13, 2019) – Mitchell Forgash and Sarah Ross competed one last time this season in cold and wet conditions on Monday afternoon at the Swat Final Qualifier Meet on the campus of Swarthmore College for the King's College outdoor track and field team.

Forgash won his heats in the 400 and 800 meters while Ross had the second-fastest 400 time of her career in terrible running conditions.

In the 800 meters the freshman started off with a 57.18 second first lap before finishing in 57.47 seconds on his second lap to cross the line in 1:54.65. He won the fifth of 12 heats and finished ninth overall out of the field of 110. His first lap split was 48th in the field but a strong second lap moved him up to ninth on a day where a lot of runners struggled on the second lap. Forgash had the fifth-best collegiate time in the field and the top time among Middle Atlantic Conference competitors. His time was his second-fastest time this season behind his school record time of 1:53.71 in the preliminaries of the MAC Championships last weekend. Forgash was near the back of the pack in nine-person heat at the bell lap before surging all the way to the front and beating second-place Gavin Gibson of McDaniel who finished in 1:55.63.

The top three times belong to non-collegiate runners as CJ Jones of District Track Club won with a time of 1:49.17 in the first heat. Johnny Gregorek of ASICS was second in 1:49.68 while DFL TC's Derek Holdsworth was third in 1:49.89. Gillian Faulkner of SUNY Geneseo had the fastest collegiate time and finished fourth overall while winning the second heat in 1:52.98. MAC runner-up Matthew Kraus of DeSales was the second MAC finisher and 13th overall with a time of 1:55.00 in the second heat. Bronze medalist Matthew Royer of Messiah was right behind him in the heat and finished 15th overall with a time of 1:55.28 while 2019 MAC Champion Iddriss Iddriss of Stevenson was 17th overall and fourth in the first heat with a time of 1:55.71.

Forgash then won the second of six 400 meters heats with a time of 50.43 seconds to finish seventh overall in the field of 28. The top six times were run in the first heat as Alexis Ojeda of Puerto Rico won with a time of 49.59 seconds and Andolfo Antompietri of Puerto Rico was second in 49.64 seconds. Future MAC rival Nick DiMaria, a junior from Stevens Institute of Technology, finished third with a time of 49.70 seconds. MAC Champion Marc Brown of DeSales ran 50.29 seconds to finish sixth. Shane Ferris, a sophomore from SUNY Geneseo, was second in Forgash's heat with a time of 51.38 seconds. 

Ross ran the second-fastest 400 meters of her career to finish 28th overall out of 37 runners with a time of 1:03.00 in the fourth of five heats. The sophomore finished fifth in the heat and was just over a second off her school record time of 1:01.85 that she ran earlier this year at the Holiday Invitational. Raevyn Rogers of Juventus had the best time of the day in the first heat crossing the line in 53.06 seconds. Gina Dello Russo, a junior from Stevens Institute of Technology, ran 55.82 seconds to finish second with the best collegiate time. Russo, who will compete with the rest of the Ducks in the MAC next year entered with the sixth fastest time in Division III this year and will be a National Qualifier. Olga Kosichenko of CPTC New Balance was third with a time of 56.13 seconds. Averi Rine of Misericordia won the heat that Ross ran in with a time of 1:00.60 to finish 12 overall.

King's will now await word of the National Qualifiers this weekend when it is expected Cayle Spencer will be announced as a qualifier in the javelin for the second consecutive year and third time in her career. She is currently 13th with the top 22 marks earning a bid.