SJSports Online
High School XC Links

High School Indoor T&F Links

High School Outdoor T&F Links

Track & Field Links

College Indoor Track & Field:
Fox leads five Rutgers-Camden stars on All-NJAC indoor track team

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

By Mike Ballard
RutgersCamden Sports Correspondent

Akeem Lloyd
Stefon Coleman
Mike Fox
Jonathan Salamon
Travis Stewart

CAMDEN – Rutgers University-Camden junior Mike Fox (Hainesport, NJ/Rancocas Valley) was named to the First Team All-New Jersey Athletic Conference Men’s Indoor Track & Field Team in the 800 meters and joined three teammates on the NJAC First Team for the distance medley when the conference announced its post-season honors today.

Fox teamed with sophomores Jonathan Salamon (Bridgewater, NJ/St. Joseph-Metuchen) and Stefon Coleman (Penns Grove, NJ/Penns Grove), and freshman Akeem Lloyd (Atlantic City, NJ/Atlantic City) on the distance medley team, which captured the NJAC Championship at Monday’s conference meet in a time of 10:35.49.

Fox anchored that relay and also won the 800-meter run in a time of 1:58.76 as he was named the Most Outstanding Male Athlete at the NJAC Championships.

Also earning conference honors was Scarlet Raptors sophomore Travis Stewart (Runnemede, NJ/Triton Regional), who finished third in the 3,000-meter run with a school-record 8:57.05 clocking to earn All-NJAC Honorable Mention.

It has been a big season for Fox, who was named the NJAC Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week on both Feb. 5 and Tuesday, and also was named as the ECAC Division III Track Athlete of the Week Feb. 6. In addition, he was named the school’s Raptor of the Week Feb. 5.

In his first year with the Raptors’ indoor track team, Fox has set program records in the mile (4:29.76) and at 1,000 meters (2:35.34). He also has anchored the record-setting 4x800 relay team (8:08.94) in addition to leading the distance medley team to a record Monday night.

Fox started his collegiate career at Rutgers-Camden, transferred to the main campus in New Brunswick and returned to the Camden campus. He earned four varsity letters from his first two years at Rutgers-Camden, where he was a member of the Scarlet Raptors’ cross country teams in 2002 and 2003, as well as the outdoor track teams in 2003 and 2004. During the 2004 season, he set a school mark of 4:03.78 at 1,500 meters, a record which still stands.

Coleman, who has earned two cross country letters and one outdoor track letter at Rutgers-Camden, collected his first indoor track letter this season. In addition to setting the record in the distance medley, he also has been a part of the Raptors’ indoor record-setting teams in the 4x200 (1:42.7, Jan. 27, 2007 at the Lebanon Valley College Invitational) and the 4x400 (3:34.08, Feb. 3, 2007 at the Frank Colden Invitational). He also holds the indoor mark at 200 meters (24.23, at the Colden Invitational Feb. 3). During the 2004 outdoor season, he was a member of the 4x100 relay team which set a school record that still stands (43.71 at the NJAC Championships May 1).

Lloyd started his collegiate career last fall on the Raptors’ cross country team and has flourished during the indoor track season, helping to set records in the distance medley, the 4x200, the 4x400 and the 4x800 (8:08.94, Feb. 3 at the Colden Invitational). He also holds the indoor mark in the 400-meter dash (53.10 at the same Colden Invitational).

Solomon’s First Team recognition for the distance medley added to his impressive array of honors at Rutgers-Camden. Last fall, while earning his first cross country letter for the Raptors, he joined Stewart as the first two Scarlet Raptors to earn All-NJAC cross country honors, with both being named to the Second Team. That accomplishment allowed them to share Co-Raptor of the Week honors on Oct. 30. His accomplishments in track have been even more impressive. Last winter he was named team MVP of the Raptors’ first indoor program, establishing two individual and two relay records in the process. His mark at 800 meters (1:57.46) from last season (March 4, 2006 at the ECAC Indoor Championships) still stands. That eclipsed his short-lived record of 1:57.53 set at the NJAC Championships Feb. 19, 2006 which earned him All-NJAC Honorable Mention.

Salamon also had a brilliant outdoor track season in 2006, earning All-NJAC First Team honors at 800 meters. In addition to his role setting the indoor distance medley school mark, he also was a member of the record-setting outdoor distance medley team (11:34.62, March 25, 2006 at the Richard Stockton Invitational).

In only his sophomore season, Stewart has become one of the top track and cross country runners in Rutgers-Camden history. In addition to his 3,000-meter school mark set at Monday’s NJAC Championships, he set two other program marks this indoor season at 1,600 meters (Jan. 27 at the Lebanon Valley College Invitational) and at 5,000 (16:02.02, Jan. 19 at the Collegeville Indoor Classic).

He has had a pair of phenomenal years on the Raptors’ cross country team, leading Rutgers-Camden in all 15 of his career races. Last fall he joined Salamon on the All-NJAC Second Team when he was eighth out of 65 conference runners, set a meet record of 27:07.37 while winning the Cabrini Cross Country Invitational (Oct. 14), was named the school’s Raptor of the Week Oct. 16 and Nov. 6, and shared the honor with Salamon Oct. 30. He also was named to the second annual Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Men’s Cross Country Team for his stellar work as an Economics major.

Stewart was named MVP of the Raptors’ cross country team during his freshman season, then helped the Raptors form their first indoor track team during the winter of 2005-06, setting marks in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters and the 4x800 relay. All three of those marks were broken this year, with Stewart lowering his own marks in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters.

During the outdoor track season in 2006, Stewart won another team MVP honor after setting program marks in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:21.31 at the Lions Invitational April 29) and at 5,000 meters (16:05.10 at the Tuppeny Twilight Meet May 15). He also was a member of the record-setting outdoor distance medley team (11:34.62, March 25 at the Richard Stockton Invitational).

Stewart’s performance at the Lions Invitational earned him honors as Rutgers-Camden’s Raptor of the Week for May 1. He captured the conference title at 10,000 meters (34:01.61) at the NJAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships (May 6) to earn All-NJAC First Team honors in the event.