Results
New York, N.Y. - (Jan. 25, 2013) - The 2013 Metropolitan Indoor Track & Field Championship wrapped up on Friday at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York, and saw the Fordham Rams post some incredible finishes, as the men took third out of 14 teams, while the women were fifth out of 15 teams. In total, Fordham scored in 16 events on the men's side and nine in the women's competition.
The Fordham men scored 110 points for third place behind only Manhattan (134) and Rutgers (131.5).
The Rams were led by two event wins and four second place finishes. Senior Sean Atkinson posted the Rams' first event win in the 500 meter run, clocking a season-best time of 1:03.07, just .02 seconds off his school record performance of a year ago. He also took third in the 200 meter dash in a time of 22.31 seconds.
Atkinson was also a part of an incredible finish for the Rams, as Fordham won the 4x400 relay at the end of the meet in a season-best time of 3:19.12. The relay began with Sean Collins, Lester Taylor, and Atkinson in the first three legs of the race. Fordham then turned to an unlikely fourth member of relay: Ian Williams, an All-Patriot League defensive back for the football team this past fall.
Williams, who had participated for the track team earlier this season, would not be denied in the final leg of the race, consistently pulling away from the anchor leg from Columbia to win the race for Fordham. Williams also scored individually in the 200 meter dash for the Rams, placing eighth in 22.60 seconds.
Collins and Taylor joined Atkinson and Williams in scoring in an individual event, as Collins was third in the 60 meter hurdles in 8.42 seconds, while Taylor was fifth in the 1,000 meter run in 2:31.91.The relay teams continued to score big points for the Maroon and White, as both the distance medley relay and the 4x800 relay finished second in their respective events.
The Rams' distance medley relay squad of Quincy O'Connor, Michael Bongiorno, Brian Walter, and Kevin Harvey posted a time of 10:19.66 to earn runner-up honors, while Michael Rossi, Daniel Green, Ryan Polo, and John Cosgrove did the same in 7:46.25.
Polo and Cosgrove would score individually as well with Polo grabbing fourth in the 1,000 meter run in 2:31.08 and Cosgrove taking third in the 800 meter run in 1:53.13.
Eight other Rams would score on the day in the men's competition, led by David Fajoyomi, who placed second in the high jump, clearing 2.07m, and sixth in the 60 meter dash in 7.08 seconds. Mike Turi placed second in the 5,000 meter run in 15:05.41 with Nick Synan and Jonathan Annelli taking third (8:31.76) and fifth (8:36.51) respectively in the 3,000 meter run.
The remaining scorers for the Rams were Sam Houston in the heptathlon (3rd - 4,829 points), Keegan Talty (5th - 4.50m) and Daniel Chediak (8th - 4.35m) in the pole vault, and Ben Delikat in the mile run (8th - 4:26.62).
In the women's competition, Columbia captured the team title with 172 points, with St. John's (111.5), Saint Peter's (99.5), Rutgers (95), and Fordham (65) rounding out the top five.
The Rams added its third Metropolitan event title of the day in the women's 4x800 relay, as Melissa Higgins, Kristen Stuart, Jillian Brooks, and Titi Fagade won the event in a time of 9:16.53.
The relay win capped off a very strong afternoon for Stuart, Higgins, and Fagade. Stuart was one of three Fordham runners to score in the 500 meter run, grabbing second in an ECAC qualifying time of 1:14.86, while Nicole Ragucci was right behind her in third in 1:14.89 with Higgins finishing seventh in 1:16.99. Fagade later scored in the 800 meter run, ending up in sixth place (2:17.48).
Ragucci also found herself scoring in two other events in the championship. She cleared 3.00 meters to finish fifth in the pole vault, while also running a leg of the 4x400 relay that placed fourth. She joined Coral Hershkovitz, Averie Sheppard, and Danielle Rowe to clock in at 4:00.86.
The Rams ended relay action with a second place finish in the distance medley relay, as Suzanne Forlenza, Melanie Notarstefano, Ashley Davis, and Anisa Arsenault clocked in at 12:25.20. Arsenault would also score individually in the 5,000 meter run, placing third in 17:22.03.
Four other Rams scored in the championship, led by Courtnay Newman, who tied for second in the high jump, clearing 1.60 meters, with Emma Cleary scoring in the pole vault (6th - 2.85m), Danielle Drummond in the 5,000 meter run (8th - 18:07.63), and Mara Lieberman in the 3,000 meter run (7th - 10:00.59).
The Fordham track & field team will next be in action on February 1-2, as members of the team compete in the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, held at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York.
