NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Union College men's and women's indoor track & field teams competed in three events on day one of the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference Indoor Championships, held on Friday afternoon at the Armory.
 
The men's team scored five points in its one final of the day to sit in a tie for 17th place after day one, while the women's team did not score on day one with two more events lined up for tomorrow.
 
The men's distance medley relay earned a top-five finish to start the day for Union, placing fifth out of 17 teams with a time of 10:19.93. Sophomore Liam Fitzgibbon started off with a 3:08.9 in the opening 1200 meters, starting slowly but vaulting into the top-five over the final three laps. Junior Jackson Klehr ran the 400 meters in 51.3 seconds to keep Union in the top-four, followed by junior Michael Fitzmaurice with a 1:58.4 over the next 800 meters that moved the Garnet Chargers into the top three. Junior Bretton Garrick ran anchor with the final 1600 meters, finishing off his 4:21.3 time with a 31.6 final lap that clinched fifth.
 
Junior Nate Okwaning matched the best time of his career in the 60-meter dash on Friday, finishing in the top-half of the 38-runner field with a time of 7.00 seconds that placed him 19th.
 
In the women's team's only event of the day, junior Ashley Sheldon finished four-hundredths of a second off her record-setting time of last weekend in the 60-meter hurdles, taking second in her heat and 12th overall out of 40 competitors with a time of 9.08 seconds. Sheldon finished second among a crowded group of four that all crossed the line within 16 thousandths of a second of each other.
 
Union will be back at the Armory tomorrow for day two of the AARTFC Championships, with a pair of 800-meter races and the women's high jump set to be contested.