Jan. 17, 2010

New York, N.Y. - The Fordham University men's and women's indoor track and field squads competed at the Armory Challenge on Saturday at the The Armory Track and Field Center in Manhattan where the Rams had three event winners on the men's side as Christopher Lyons won the 400m, Brian Schmidt took the 500m and Kevin Fitzgerald was first to cross the line in the 1000m.

In team scoring, the Fordham men placed seventh with 44 points while the women were ninth with 12 points.

Lyons took first in the 400m race in a time of 49.36, 0.59 seconds ahead of runner-up Christopher Kearney of Villanova, while Schmidt was victorious in the 500m, breaking the tape in 1:03.92, just over a second ahead of Manhattan's Carlos Petrovich. Fitzgerald edged Villanova's Joseph LoRusso at the line by 0.37 seconds in the 1000m.

On the women's side, the top finishers were Kerri Gallagher, who took fourth in the 1000m (2:48.97) and Courtnay Newman, who was fourth in the high jump with a leap of 1.60m (5' 3"). Newman also placed 12th in the shot put (9.91m - 32' 6.25")

Also scoring for the men were Sean Atkinson, who was fifth in the 500m (1:05.52), Augustus Gleason, who took eight in the high jump (1.84m - 6' 0.5") and Bernard Moore, who was eighth in the 1000m (2:33.31).

The Fordham men also picked up points in two relays as the 4x400 team of Atkinson, Nick Delligatti, Lyons and Schmidt placed third (3:20.16) as did the 4x800 squad of Stephen Donnelly, Gleason, Brian Horowitz and Tim Hutchinson (8:02.14).

Other competitors for the Fordham men included Sam Stuart, who took ninth in the 3000m (8:48.42), Michael Rossi, who was tenth in the 500m (1:01.19), Ian Powell, who finished tenth in the 800m (2:00.35), Donnelly, who took tenth in the 1000m (2:34.75), Jarrett Anistranski, who placed eleventh in the 500m (1:07.35), Julian Saad, who was eleventh in the mile (4:27.43), Pat Brown, who finished eleventh in the high jump (1.84m), Horowitz, who was 12th in the 1000m (2:39.42) and Brian Riley, who placed 12th in the mile (4:27.89).

Other women scoring for the Rams included Sherilyn Groeninger, who placed eighth in the 60m (7.98) and Brigid Moriarty, who was eighth in the 3000m (10:22.10). Groeninger also took 13th in the 200m (26.48).

Other Fordham women competing at the Armory Challenge included Kerry Kwalwasser, who was tenth in the 500m (1:19.93), Sheena Parand, who took eleventh in the 1000m (3:05.49), Mairin O'Connor, who placed eleventh in the mile (5:30.21), Elisabeth Warren, who was eleventh in the 200m (26.44), and Kelly Connolly, who finished 12th in the 400m (1:00.20).

The women's 4x400 relay team placed sixth (3:59.44) while the 4x800 squad took seventh (10:02.09).

The Fordham men's and women's indoor track ad field teams will next be in action on January 29th and 30th as they compete in the Metropolitan Championships at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.