By RYAN SCANLON
STAFF WRITER
With the weather warming up and the spring looming, the Fordham men’s and women’s indoor track seasons have hit their last stretch of championship races, beginning with the Atlantic 10 conference championships.
The men’s team looked to duplicate their success of the last indoor season by earning a third place finish in the conference with a notable All-Conference performance in the 4×800-m relay.
The women’s team, after finishing ninth last year, was hoping for improvement and some maturation among the very young squad going into this meet.
A very noteworthy difference between this season and last was the insertion of two teams in the Atlantic-10. The new presence of Butler University and VCU proved to steepen Fordham’s competition.
The men’s side dropped to sixth overall in the conference, out of 12, but not without some excellent individual and team performances.
The highlight of the meet was the 4×400-m relay team, which captured the gold in a time of 3:18.81 over Rhode Island. The Rams were represented by senior Sean Atkinson, junior Sean Collins, junior Ian Williams and sophomore Lester Taylor. As a senior and Fordham school record holder, Atkinson earned his first first-team All-Conference honor of his career with this effort. Atkinson also earned a second-team All-Conference distinction by finishing second overall in the 500-m dash for the second consecutive year. His time of 63.65 was just .11 seconds off the leader.
The men’s streak of Atlantic-10 4×800-m victories came to an end this year. Fordham’s team took second behind La Salle’s four-senior team.
The Rams’ team was composed of senior John Cosgrove, junior Ryan Polo, sophomore Danny Green and senior Mike Rossi. They clocked in at 7:42.60, earning eight points for Fordham in the process. Junior Sam Houston took second place in the heptathlon through his two day efforts. Houston’s strengths would prove to be the 1000-m run (2:45; 810 points) and the high jump (6’6”; 785 points), as he finished with 4,829 total points. Defending Atlantic-10 champion, junior David Fajoyomi placed second in the high jump field this season, hitting the same mark he did a season ago, 6’10” (1/4).
The women’s team finished 10th out of 14, but is still looking to capitalize on its strengths as a group as the seasons comes to a close.
Junior Titi Fagade was involved in more scoring for the Rams over the weekend, placing second and earning eight points in the 800-m run. She hit 2:14.13 in a very tight 800-m final. Fagade also contributed on the women’s 4×800-m relay that earned a third place finish.
The formula of Fagade, sophomore Melissa Higgins, sophomore Jillian Brooks and sophomore Kristen Stuart proved to be successful, gaining six points in a time of 9.12.69. Stuart would go on to score individually as well. The sophomore would hit 1:15.29 in the 500-m dash, earning another third place finish.
Senior Courtnay Newman, who has been featured in The Fordham Ram’s senior profile, scored in high jump for the third consecutive year by clearing 5’6”, good enough for a seventh place finish.
The Rams will have the next couple of weeks off to train for the IC4A/ECAC Championships hosted by Boston University on March 2nd and 3rd.
