May 4, 2013 - Charlotte, N.C. - The Fordham track & field team began competition at the 2013 Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championship on Saturday at the Irwin T. Belk Track & Field Center in Charlotte, N.C. On day one, Fordham posted seven qualifiers for Sunday's finals, which included three IC4A qualifiers, while scoring in four of Saturday's events.
Rhode Island leads the men's competition with 73 points, followed by Charlotte (61), and Temple (31). Fordham is currently in 10th place with 14 points.
Fordham began its scoring in the long jump, as junior David Fajoyomi finished fourth with an IC4A qualifying mark of 23' 4". He then added to the scoring by earning Second Team All-Atlantic 10 honors in the high jump, clearing 6' 9 1/2". Senior Keegan Talty capped the men's scoring by taking eighth in the pole vault by clearing 14' 3 1/4".
The Rams almost scored in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, as Jonathan Annelli took ninth in a season-best time of 9:22.49.
In addition to the three scoring events, the Fordham men qualified for four of Sunday's finals. Junior Sean Collins led the way qualifying for both hurdle finals, posting times of 15.03 seconds in the 110 meter hurdles and 53.30 seconds in the 400 meter hurdles. Senior Sean Atkinson also qualified for the 400 hurdles final as the top time in 52.98 seconds, which is good for an IC4A qualifying time as well.
Fajoyomi will score in his third event of the Championship, as he clocked an IC4A qualifying time of 10.74 seconds in the 100 meter dash, while Kevin Fitzgerald qualified for the 800 meter final in 1:51.87.
On the women's side, Dayton leads with 66 points with Duquesne (43) and Rhode Island (40) in pursuit. Fordham sits in 14th, as the Rams only scored in one event on Saturday.
That scoring came from junior Anisa Arsenault, as she took eighth in the 10,000 meter run in 36:24.00. The Rams fell short of scoring in the pole vault and high jump events, as freshman Emma Cleary was 11th in the pole vault (10' 2 3/4"), while senior Courtnay Newman was 11th in the high jump (5' 1 1/4").
The Rams did qualify for two women's finals on Sunday, and just missed a third. Nicole Ragucci posted a time of 56.57 seconds to qualify in the 400 meter dash final, while Titi Fagade clocked in at 2:11.00 to qualify for the 800 meter final.
Melissa Higgins and Kristen Stuart just missed qualifying for the 400 meter hurdles final, as Higgins was ninth in 1:03.13 with Stuart in 10th at 1:03.14.
Day two of the Atlantic 10 Championship begins at 10:00 AM on Sunday.
