Manhattan College's Draddy Gymnasium was home to day one of the 2012 Metropolitan Indoor Track and Field Championship on Jan. 26. Seven Rams competed in the first six events and were led by junior Daniel Chediak and sophomore Sam Houston.

Chediak placed eighth in the men's pole event with a height of 13' 9 1/4," while Houston remains at second overall in the heptathlon through four events with a cumulative score of 2,808 points. Houston started the heptathlon placing fourth in the 60 meter dash in 7.49 seconds.

Houston proceeded to win the long jump event with a career-high jump of 21' 10 1/4.

Overall, the Rams claimed three event titles and posted seven ECAC/IC4A qualifiers. Fordham's 101 points in the men's competition was third only to Rutgers's 164 and Manhattan's 122.

Junior John Cosgrove set the pace by winning the 800-meter run in an IC4A qualifying time of 1:53.56. He later joined sophomore Ryan Polo, sophomore Brian Walter, and senior Kevin Fitzgerald to win the 4x800 relay event in 7:46.50.

Houston was the final event winner in a come from behind effort. Trailing Southern Connecticut State's Nick Lebron by 59 points following day one's results of the men's heptathlon, Houston answered the call by posting career-high marks of 9.11 seconds in the 60 meter hurdles (6th) and 2:45.02 in the 1000 meter run (2nd). Still trailing, Houston cleared 11'5 3/4" in the pole vault to finish fourth.

However, Lebron posted no points in the final event, making Houston's total of 4,830 points the winner of the men's heptathlon. The score is also an IC4A qualifier and just missed breaking the Fordham school record of 4,835 points, which was set by Dan Tucker in 2006.

The Fordham women scored 44.5 points to finish in sixth place, while Columbia won the event with 156 points.

Sophomore Titi Fagade led the charge for the women as she placed second in the 500-meter run in an ECAC qualifying time of 1:14.60.

Fagade also contributed to the 4x400 relay team, which posted its best time of the season at 3:54.82.