MANHATTAN, N.Y. – Catholic won four events and set three school records during its women's track indoor season opener at the TCNJ Winter Open held at the NYC Armory on Saturday. 

Brigid Byrnes was stellar for the Cardinals, setting school records in the 60-meter hurdles and the 300-meter race. Her hurdles time of 9.30 seconds topped her own school record set at the Father Diamond meet last year by .09 seconds and moved her into seventh all-time in Landmark Conference history. She went on to place sixth in the finals which saw three runners finish within .01 seconds of each other.

Byres also reduced her own school record in the 300m with a new personal-best time of 42.39 seconds. Her previous best of 42.66 was set at TCNJ in 2023. Her performance earned her 10th place in the final. 

Freshman Madi Fuerst broke a seven-year-old school record in the pole vault during her collegiate debut. She rose to a 3.15m mark to place second and shatter the previous record of 3.04m held by Mia Del Borrello (2017). Fuerst is now only the second pole vaulter in program history to vault over three meters. 

The first Cardinal to top the leader board was Emily Moehringer. The senior dominated the mile with a personal best time of 5:07.33, improving on her previous best of 5:08.53 to remain fourth on the program's all-time list. She blitzed her competition, crossing the finish line 15 seconds before the next fastest runner. 

Catholic also snagged first place in the shot put thanks to an excellent performance by Ciara Donegan. The senior won the event with a 12.23m throw before returning the the field for the weighted throw where she placed fourth with a personal best mark of 12.81 meters.

Alexa Grassi crossed the finish line first in the 1000-meter race. She dropped nearly three seconds from her last outing to record a new personal best of 3:08.97. Laurel McMahon joined the elite group with a winning performance in the 5000-meter race. She ran an 18:53.92 to finish just in front of fellow teammate Georgia Nussey who clocked a 19:09.09 for second.

The Cardinals will take a hiatus from competition for the holidays before returning on January 18 to host the Cardinal Track & Field Classic.