Sean Atkinson would like to go out with some outstanding performances, maybe even, some, record breaking ones, during this winter’s track and field season at Fordham University.
“I expect big things this year,” Atkinson recently said. “And maybe I’ll get to the Nationals (NCAA Division I track meet at the end of the season) in the 400 meters.”
He got the indoor season off to a decent performance in the 800-meter run at the indoor facilities of Fordham’s University Rose Hall Campus in the Bronx.
Before the race started, Head Coach Tom Dewey told his student athlete to go out and stay with the pack and make a move when he felt it was necessary. Atkinson made it at the right time to get the victory and start the season off in the right direction.
In a field of 17 college athletes, including his teammate John Blake, who finished in 14th place, Atkinson crossed the finish line in hand time of 1:58.7 to help start his senior indoor season off to what he hopes to be some top times and personal best performances.
“Running here has been great,” said Atkinson. “I’m happy that I came to this college. It’s one of the best places to be at. I’m running with a great group of guys. All my coaches helped me here.”
In fact, Dewey knew of Atkinson even before he came to Fordham. Dewey was an English teacher at Nazareth High School and Atkinson was a high school runner at the East Flatbush based Catholic school.
“I attended Nazareth because it was a good school,” the middle distance runner recalled. “Dewey (at the time) told me to check out Fordham.”
Sean only holds one indoor record – the 500-meter run at Fordham. And it was a 1:03.06 performance.
“When I came to Fordham, Dewey and his coaching staff helped me to stay healthy get my mind right,” he said.
And talking about winning performances, he said that he doesn’t have enough wins at Fordham.
“The greatest moment I had here was in the Conference meet two years ago when I took second place in the 400 hurdles when I ran it in 53:18 in Charlotte and when I ran the first leg in the 4 x 400-meter relay.”
Sean Atkinson is the son of Colin Atkinson, who originally came from Jamaica, West Indies where Colin never played in any sports during his school days.
After Sean graduates from Fordham this June, he may stay at the college and run and train with the coaches. He mentioned about running the 400 hurdles.
Meantime, he is continuing to put in a lot of hard work and training to do well in the upcoming meets. He puts in time in the weight room as well as on the track, and of course, he studies hard to keep up with his academics.
The Rams’ next meet is on Jan. 5 at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
In the 1000-meter run of the Fordham season opener, three Fordham athletes placed among the top five finishers with Lester Taylor winning the race in a hand time of 2:35.7. Dan Green ran a 2:37.9 and Kyle Clonon ran a 2:40 for third and fourth, places, respectively.
