[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h63D-f2EYgQ&w=560&h=315]
The Fordham Ram: How did you first get started with track?

Courtnay Newman: I played softball my freshman year of high school, and the track coach saw me throwing, so she recruited me to play javelin. That’s why I started running track, and I got into other events as well.

TFR: What drew you to Fordham?

CN: I had my heart set on Boston. I had looked at a lot of other schools in Boston, and one weekend after visiting a bunch of schools, we were coming home on the Cross Bronx and saw the signs for Fordham University and thought, “Hey, let’s just check this out. We’ve been to a bunch of schools already; let’s just check this out.” I just like fell in love with the campus, and Fordham was actually the only school I applied to.

TFR: You competed in Pentathlon your freshman year, but after that you haven’t really done it.  Is there a story behind that?

CN: I started the multi-events in high school, and I did really well against those girls. I got here, and I realized that, after doing it twice, I could get more points just high jumping, so I decided to get rid of all the other events.  It wasn’t fun. I hate running.

TFR: What kind of off-season work do you do? How do you prepare for jumping and other events?

CN: Well, I lift; that’s important. I try to run every day. Summers I get pretty busy, so I try to do a mile or two every day. I also do a lot of plyometric work: boxes, jumping, bounding, stuff like that.

TFR: You also sprint a little bit, and you hurdle, right?

CN: I don’t sprint, I hurdle.  Hurdle is a lot more speed work and a lot more technique. I don’t do the intermediates. I only do the high hurdles, and that’s all about rhythm and muscle memory. I find that when I’m hurdling I don’t think about the race. I just start and finish, and that’s all I ever know.

TFR: There are a few seniors on the team. How do you see your role on the team?

CN: Right now, I am the only senior girl who does field events, so my role is basically the field events captain. So if coach has a message for the field events or anything pertaining to the field, it’s my job to see that things run smoothly.

TFR: How do you like that role?

CN: I like it. I like it because our team is very running-centric.  We’re getting a stronger field now, but our team is very heavily geared toward the running and the distance events. So it’s nice to be able to focus on the field events.

TFR: The last couple of years in the A-10, you’ve made a habit of gaining points and getting top-5, top-3 finishes. What are your goals for this year?

CN: I’d really like to win A-10s this year.  The other girls that jump in the A-10s all have scores that are really close to each other, so usually what it comes down to is how many times you miss the height.  Usually everyone jumps the same height and it’s whoever misses the least amount of times who wins.  So, I’m really trying to stay clean. I’m having not as a good of a season as I did last year, so I’m just trying to get back to where I was and trying to stay clean, and I think I can definitely win, depending on what the other girls do.

TFR: What are your future goals?

CN: I am a communication and media studies major and a medieval studies minor. At the moment, I have an internship set up with a minor league baseball in Somerset County doing marketing and promotions. So, I’ll be doing that for the summer.