BOSTON, MASS. and ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track team recorded 11 All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks at a pair of weekend meets. The Red Dragons traveled to Boston, Massachusetts for the Boston University Valentine Invitational on Feb. 8-9 and also sent competitors to the Cornell Sunday Invitational Feb. 10.

The Red Dragons posted eight AARTFC qualifying performances at Boston University, led by freshman Steffany Batista (Spring Valley/Ramapo). Batista hit AARTFC marks in the 200-meter dash (26.12 seconds) and the 400-meter dash (59.89). She also helped Cortland post a time of 4:07.65 in the 4x400-meter relay with teammates Kaylee Uhl (Waverly), Jesse Correale (Staten Island/Notre Dame Academy) and Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy).

Uhl and Correale also reached AARTFC qualifying marks in the 400-meter dash while improving their personal best times of the season. Uhl finished with a time of 58.95 seconds and Correale was clocked at 59.86 seconds. Imbornoni recorded her fastest time in the 800-meter run as well with an AARTFC qualifying time of 2:18.08.

Sydney Smith (Niskayuna) and Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) finished the weekend with new personal bests in their respective events. Smith recorded a mile time of 5:18.99, while Hunter finished the 200-meter dash at 26.19 seconds. Kelly Gardner (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) finished the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.50 seconds. All three of these times were AARTFC qualifying marks as well.

At Cornell, senior Maya Campbell (Valley Stream/Valley Stream South) hit two AARTFC qualifying marks, finishing first in the triple jump with a distance of 11.08 meters (36' 4.25") and fourth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.50 seconds (9.39 preliminaries). Campbell also finished 10th in the 200-meter dash at 27.89 seconds, followed by her teammate Bridget Bennett (Castleton/Maple Hill), who finished 11th (27.96). Bennett finished sixth out of 21 runners in the 400-meter dash as well with a time of 1:03.12.

Harley Buczkowski (Holland Patent) placed fourth out of 41 competitors in the weight throw with an AARTFC qualifying distance of 15.27 meters (50' 1.25"). Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) placed second in the high jump at 1.55 meters (5' 1"), missing an AARTFC qualifying mark by a hundredth of a meter. She was tied for the best height at the meet but finished second due to number of misses. Molly Baker (Newark Valley) placed fifth in the high jump with a height of 1.50 meters (4' 11").

Cortland will compete next Saturday, Feb. 16, at Cornell University's Marc Deneault Invitational as well as sending some field competitors to Ithaca College.

(Recap by Sports Information Intern John Nocco)

Complete Results:
Boston University - Women
Boston University - Men
Cornell Sunday Invitational - Women and Men

Coach's Corner - Comments from Head Coach Steve Patrick

This was a great three days of track and field for the Red Dragons!  It's always wonderful to see the hard work the student-athletes have been putting in pay off.

Picking highlights to mention after a weekend like this is a difficult task as there are so many highlights!

In Boston, Shannon Imbornoni had a tremendous 800 on Friday to set the tone for the team.  Her 2:18 was a huge PR, but there's room for her to still go faster.  The same can be said for our top trio in the 400, as Kaylee Uhl, Jesse Correale, and Steffany Batista all were sub 60 seconds, which is one of those barriers you love to get under as an athlete.  Jesse's new PR was really impressive, as she skipped from being over 61 seconds to joining the sub-60 club.

The men at the Boston meet also had some strong performances.  Again, we were led off with a strong 800 - this time from Richard Samuels, who broke 1:54!  He came back to split 48.5 on the 4x400 relay, leading the team to a great nationally ranked performance of 3:18.  Austen Johnson anchored that relay in excellent form holding off a charging university of Southern Maine team by .01 seconds, which could matter for selection to the NCAA meet. Austen also broke a barrier, dipping under 50 seconds for the first time in his career.

The milers for both sides put in good work at Boston; Sydney Smith had an excellent race to lead the ladies, while the men had a great showing of depth as 6 runners were under 4:28, led by Ryan Konotopskyj.  Of special note is Grant Boyd, who has dropped around 10 seconds off his PR in the last 2 weeks!

Cornell was focused a lot more on the field part of track and field, and see had some strong results in Barton Hall as well.  Maya Campbell had a great hurdle performance in the trials, and continued her role as one of the top triple jumpers around with an overall victory in the meet.  Nicole Van Pelt continued her path of improvement in the high jump with a new collegiate best (her third in a row). 

The guys had some strong efforts as well.  Ryan Lawless had a huge PR in the pole vault, and nearly broke through to be over 15'.  He's been working extremely hard, so seeing him have that breakthrough was very exciting!  Teammate Tyler Hochadel opened the day with a solid effort in the weight throw - his furthest of the year - and closed the day as the last Cortland athlete competing with a huge lifetime best in the shot put by over a foot and a half!

It's great to have so many strong performances at this time of year, and we are looking forward to peaking for the championship season.  Our meets at Cornell and Ithaca College next weekend should help us to be ready for he conference, regional, and NCAA meets.