Two Fordham athletes, one a junior and one a senior, reached professional milestones last month.

On Sunday, March 13, former Fordham soccer team keeper Ryan Meara, a Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) senior, started his professional career, making his first start in the season opener for the New York Red Bulls against FC Dallas in Texas.

Meara made four saves, including two on short-range blasts, but the Red Bulls fell to the home squad, 2-1.

On March 16 and 17, Brienne Ryan, a FCRH junior, became the first first female swimmer from Fordham to compete at the NCAA Championships.

She placed 17th in the 200 backstroke preliminaries at the 2012 NCAA Championship meet, held at Auburn University in Alabama. Her NCAA time of 1:54.67 set a school record, supplanting her previous school record of 1:56.11, set last year at the 2011 Atlantic 10 Championship.

For the second straight season, the Fordham women’s swimming and diving team was selected by Atlantic 10 coaches as the preseason favorite to win the league.

The Fordham men’s swimming and diving and team was picked in a tie for fourth, with Xavier.

In the women’s poll, Fordham was picked first, followed by Richmond, Massachusetts, Duquesne, La Salle, St. Bonaventure, Xavier, George Washington, Rhode Island and Saint Louis.

Fordham returns several medalists from last year’s squad, which captured the University’s first league championship in women’s swimming and diving. The Rams are led by juniors Courtney Collyer, who earned a gold in the 200 butterfly and a silver in both the 200 and 400 individual medley events; and Kelly Bunster, who was a part of two gold (200 medley and 800 freestyle) and two silver (400 medley and 400 freestyle) medalist relays.

Senior Megan McGorry (500 and 1,650 freestyle) and sophomore Brienne Ryan (100 and 200 backstroke) are also back, each having earned a pair of individual silver medals last year; as well as junior diver Andrea Krok, who received a silver medal in the one-meter dive.

In the men’s poll, Massachusetts was picked to continue its string of titles, which stands at four. The Minutemen are followed by St. Bonaventure, La Salle, Fordham, Xavier, George Washington and Saint Louis.

The Fordham men’s team has finished fourth in each of the last two seasons at the Atlantic 10 Championship, securing its best-ever finish in consecutive years. Fordham will be led by seniorsRobert Gitman and Billy Colton, who both scored in the “A” final of the 100 and 200 backstroke events a year ago; as well as senior Matthew Grabiak and junior Sean McManus, who both scored in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.