CORTLAND, N.Y. - Sophomore Cat Lutjen (Sound Beach/Miller Place) broke the school record in the javelin throw to highlight the Cortland women's outdoor track and field team's performances at the two-day Cortland Classic.

Lutjen finished in second place out of 29 competitors with her record-setting and All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying throw of 37.24 meters (122' 2"). The previous "new specs" javelin school record was 36.53 meters (119' 10") by Kristen Serikstad in 2009. Lutjen also finished sixth in the shot put with a personal best of 11.68 meters (38' 4").

Lutjen was one of four Red Dragons to earn a total of five AARTFC qualifiers at the meet. Kelly Gardner (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) picked up two of those in the long jump and the triple jump. She was fifth out of 31 in the long jump at 5.25 meters (17' 3.25") and sixth of 19 in the triple jump at 10.82 meters (35' 6"). Riley Wood (Wallkill) finished seventh and eighth in the two events, respectively, with jumps of 5.18 meters (17' 0") in the long jump and 10.48 meters (34' 4.75") in the triple jump.

Sara Billings (Ganesvoort/South Glens Falls) completed the 5,000-meters in 18:29.86, which met the regional standard and was good for second place out of 24 runners in the event. Megan Wagner (Niskayuna) finished in fourth place in 18:37.77 while Sam Himes (Buffalo/Sweet Home) checked in ninth in 19:45.02.

Kaylee Uhl (Waverly) had an AARTFC qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles with her third-place time of 1:06.77. Nicole Hallenbeck (Claverack/Taconic Hills) finished sixth in the 22-person field in 1:09.44.

In the 100-meter hurdles, Kim White (Marathon) went to the finals with the best preliminary run of 16.28 seconds, and she finished fourth in the final in 16.59 seconds. Gillian Lee (Syosset) was seventh in 19.97 (17.56 prelims). White was also 18th out of 56 in the 200-meter dash in 27.92 seconds, with Jesse Correale (Staten Island/Notre Dame Academy) 14th in 27.40 seconds and Shannon Imbornoni (Plainview/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) 21st  in 28.25 seconds.

Also, four Red Dragons finished in the top 20 in the field of 50 in the 400 meters, led by Asia Cornwall (East Greenbush/Columbia) who finished 11th in 1:01.71. Imbornoni was 13th in 1:02.05, while Melissa Emilio (Oneonta) was 15th in 1:02.31 and Carolyn Wagner (Delmar/Bethlehem) finished 20th in 1:03.04.

Other highlights included Nicole Wise's (Franklinville) third-place finish in the high jump at 1.40 meters (4' 7"), Harley Buczkowski (Holland Patent) finishing seventh out of 23 in the hammer throw at 42.09 meters (138' 1"), and Lindsey Crego (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) in 10th place in the discus at 32.37 meters (106' 2"). In addition, Ali Galus (Buffalo/Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart) was 12th out of 28 in the two-day heptathlon with 3,293 points.

Cortland will compete again on Tuesday with a home meet at 2 p.m. before heading to the Cornell Big Red Invitational on Sunday at 10 a.m.  

(Recap by Cortland sports information intern Kyle Lancto and SID Fran Elia)

Complete Results:
Women
Men

Coach's Corner - Comments from Head Coach Steve Patrick on the Cortland Classic:

It was great to host a meet of nearly 1,000 competitors this past weekend!  An event like this requires a lot of support from our department, the SUNY Cortland stadium complex, and our athletic training staff.

Mother Nature was also pretty cooperative of which we are quite thankful!

The team was able to capitalize and have some great performances! Nicole Hallenbeck had a huge PR in the 400 hurdles and is sitting in a great spot for the conference meet. Obviously Cat Lutjen getting a school record in the javelin was great to see! Our ladies in the 5,000 did a great job across the board; sophomore Ali Galus was our lone entrant in the heptathlon and did tremendously with a new personal best!

For the men, our top three in the 1,500 were working on some specific tactical aspects of the race. Because we had some specific goals in mind we didn't see the really fast times, but we are quite pleased with what what they accomplished.

To have two freshmen men well over 5,000 points in the decathlon along with a 3rd over 4,900 was a really nice statement!

Finally, I'd like to point out that this meet is nearly a Reunion! We had some alumni here spectating, greater numbers coaching (for Cortland and many other institutions), and even a few competing! It's great to see our alumni still so involved in the sport and the program!