ITHACA, N.Y- The Cortland women's indoor track and field team, ranked 11th in the Atlantic Region, earned five individual top-eight honors and one relay award at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championship. Ithaca College hosted the two-day event.
 
Despite sending only a handful of competitors, Cortland placed ninth out of 40 schools in the final team standings with a total of 26 points. The College of New Jersey took home first place with 87 points, followed by Brockport (85.5), Ithaca (80), Geneseo (71.5), and Plattsburgh (55) in the top five.
 
Harley Buczkowski (Holland Patent) was Cortland's top finisher, placing second in the weight throw at 16.33 meters (53' 7"). The 4x400-meter relay team of Jesse Correale (Staten Island/Notre Dame Academy), Steffany Batista (Spring Valley/Ramapo), Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy), and Kaylee Uhl (Waverly) earned third-place honors with a time of 3:57.57.
 
Maya Campbell (Valley Stream/Valley Stream South) placed fourth out of 26 competitors in the triple jump at 11.55 meters (37' 10.75"). Imbornoni finished fifth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:19.48.
 
Cortland's final two scores came from Batista and Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) who finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 200-meter dash. Batista finished in 25.99 seconds followed by Hunter at 26.10 seconds.
 
The top eight individual finishers and the top three relays earn All-AARTFC honors.
 
Also for Cortland, Kelly Gardner (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) placed 17th in the triple jump with a distance of 10.63 meters (34' 10.5").
 
Cortland awaits the announcement of participants for next weekend's NCAA Division III Championships, which be held in Boston, Mass., March 8-9. The final participant list will be posted on NCAA.com Sunday by 7 p.m. The top 20 in each individual event and the top 12 in each relay (4x400 and DMR) qualify for nationals. As of late Saturday night, Cortland athletes ranking in the national qualifying spots are:
 
Buczkowski, 14th, weight throw
Campbell, seventh, triple jump

(Recap by sports information intern John Nocco)

Complete Results

Coach's Corner - Comments from Head Coach Steve Patrick

We approach this meet differently than a lot of other programs do.  After the SUNYAC Championships, we are either trying to refine things for the upcoming NCAA Championships, or we are trying to get ready for the outdoor season.  For most of the team that might be qualified for the AARTFC Championships but not quite ready for an NCAA-level performance, putting in quality training has more value for us.  This year, most of our team that was clearly qualified for the NCAA Championships also stood to benefit more from getting some quality practice in as compared to a hard competition.
 
The folks that came over to the meet certainly competed quite well!  In particular, David Bernstein had a season's best in the weight throw, which moved him up to the top 50 in the country; Taylor Hunter and Liam Joyce had season's best in the women's and men's 200 (respectively), freshman Dane Sorensen improved his lifetime best in the pole vault by two centimeters on the way to winning the title in the event, and sophomore Shannon Imbornoni had her fastest 800 of the year for a 'flat' track.  A really impressive performance was run by our women's 4x400 meter relay (Jesse Correale, Steffany Batista, Imbornoni, and Kaylee Uhl) ran their fastest time of the year!
 
We're also really proud that while we were following our principles, both programs earned top-10 finishes.  I think that indicates that what the members of the team are doing is excellent!  We're obviously excited to be heading into the NCAA Championships this upcoming weekend, and are looking forward to some great efforts!