ITHACA, N.Y. - Cortland athletes registered nine ECAC-qualifying performance, including two by senior Taylor Hudson (Victor), at the Cornell University Upstate Challenge. Cortland was one of only two Division III schools at the meet along with eight Division I teams.

Hudson finished second of 33 in the long jump at 5.57 meters (18' 3.25"), which ranks third nationally in Div. III. She also placed seventh in the high jump at 1.60 meters (5' 3").

Junior Kailyn Balzano (East Greenbush/Columbia) finished sixth of 33 in the 800 meters with an ECAC time of 2:18.93. She ranks 13th nationally with that effort. Junior Kayla Blomback (Orchard Park) finished 13th of 46 in the mile with an ECAC time of 5:17.11 and was also 12th in the 800 meters in a non-ECAC 2:25.90. Sophomore Midge Moore (Massapequa) hit one ECAC standard with her 15th-place effort, in a field of 50, in the 60-meter dash at 7.92 seconds. She was also 20th of 67 in the 200-meter dash in 26.80 seconds, four tenths of a second off the ECAC standard.

Other Cortland ECAC qualifiers were junior Kenya Outram (Brooklyn/Victory Collegiate) and junior Angelique Jean-Charles (Elmont/Valley Stream) in the 60-meter hurdles, senior Valerie Vancol (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) in the shot put and freshman Brenda Perrella (Hamburg/Frontier) in the weight throw. Outram finished 16th (9.32) and Jean-Charles 17th (9.36) of 36 in the 60-meter hurdles. Vancol was 11th of 27 in the shot put (11.63 meters - 38' 2") and Perrella was ninth of 26 in the weight throw (15.01 meters - 49' 3"). Outram also placed 15th in the long jump (4.93 meters - 16' 2.25") and Perrella was 13th in the shot put (11.49 meters - 37' 8.5").

Junior Kayla Koelbel (Bradford, PA/Kings Park (NY)) finished second in the pentathlon with a score of 3,014 points that ranks fifth nationally in Div. III. For the ECAC Championships, the top 12 qualifiers are selected to compete in the pentathlon and Koelbel currently ranks second on that list.

In addition to Moore, four other Red Dragons finished in the top half of the 67-entrant field in the 200-meter dash. Outram was 26th (27.28), sophomore Dana Kupiec (Salem) 29th (27.46), freshman Dana Messina (East Meadow) 30th (27.53) and freshman Sydney Chaffee (Norwich) 31st (27.54). Chaffee and Kupiec were also two of three Cortland athletes in the top half of the 400-meter standings. Chaffee placed seventh of 20 (1:01.41), Kupiec was eighth (1:01.52) and senior Gabrielle Conant (Tully) ninth (1:02.84). Also, sophomore Allison Schumann (North Salem) finished 14th of 32 in the 3,000-meter run (11:21.52).

Cortland will send competitors to both the Cornell Kane Invitational and the Ithaca Bomber Invitational and Multi next weekend.

Complete Results (PDF)