By RYAN SCANLON
STAFF WRITER
The Fordham men’s and women’s track teams were in action last weekend, competing in the last meet of a prolific indoor season.
The Rams have had a lot of terrific performances in a wide array of events, from individual runners to relays to jumpers to multipurpose athletes. The IC4A/ECAC championships were much anticipated to provide the cherry on top for this hard-earned campaign. Qualifying to compete at this meet is an accomplishment all its own. Not only did several Fordam athletes qualify, but a few also medaled and received All-Eastern honors for their efforts. Both the men’s and women’s sides tallied 16 total points in a very competitive field, which included some of the strongest programs in the Northeast and along the East Coast.
Highlighting the men’s end was senior Sean Atkinson, whose masterful indoor season keeps demanding recognition. Atkinson laced up and ran the 500-m dash preliminary race on Saturday (Day 1), merely looking to qualify for the Day 2 final. In the process, Atkinson broke his own Fordham school record, clocking in at 62.72 to finish second among the entire field. In the finals the next day, Atkinson did well, finishing in 63.36 for fifth overall, netting four points. Atkinson was busy, he also teamed up with the fist team All-Conference 4x400m relay crew to compete. The team of Atkinson, junior Sam Houston, sophomore Lester Taylor and junior Sean Collins hit a very impressive time of 3:14.75; this placed them, however, 10th in the preliminary race, failing to qualify. Junior high jumper David Fajoyomi seemed to fly under the radar most of this winter season, but he put in another remarkable performance at this last meet. Fajoyomi cleared 6’11” on Saturday, earning a second-place finish behind junior Tommy Butler of Cornell. Fordham’s 4x800m relay was another featured team over the weekend, the group of senior John Cosgrove; junior Brian Walter, senior Mike Rossi and junior Ryan Polo took second in the preliminaries and finished fifth overall on Sunday in a time of 7:30.0.
A school record was broken on the women’s side. Rewriting the record books this time was the 4×800-m relay team. The team of sophomores Melissa Higgins, Kristen Stuar, Mara Lieberman and junior Titi Fagade won the preliminary race on Day 1 in 8:57.42, earning a spot in the finals. In the Sunday finals, this group vastly surpassed their Day 1 effort by hitting 8:48.24, shattering the former record of 8:54. Fagade was not finished. She took second place on Sunday in the 500-m dash finals in a time of 1:12.97, nearly duplicating Atkinson’s efforts and inching very close to her own school record in the process.
The Fordham men and women will now recover and build for the next challenge: outdoor season. With a lot of different pieces contributing this past indoor season, Fordham’s outdoor success is highly anticipated.
