CORTLAND, N.Y. – Asia Cornwall (East Greenbush/Columbia) won the 400-meter dash and the Red Dragons posted five runner-up finishes, two with AARTFC qualifying marks, as the Cortland women's outdoor track and field team hosted the Friday Night Under the Lights Invitational.

Cornwall finished the 400 meters in 1:06.75, and she was also Cortland's top finisher in the 200-meter dash placing seventh out of 24 runners with a time of 27.92 seconds.

Cat Lutjen (Sound Beach/Miller Place) and Harley Buczkowski (Holland Patent) reached AARTFC qualifying performances in their respective events. Lutjen placed second out of 14 athletes in the javelin throw with a distance of 37.10 meters (121' 9"), while Buczkowski was runner-up in the hammer throw reaching a distance of 47.67 meters (156' 4").

Riley Wood (Wallkill) put together second-place finishes in both the triple jump and the long jump. She posted distances of 10.42 meters (34' 2.25") in the triple jump and 4.95 meters (16' 3") in the long jump. Kitty Tang (Staten Island/Coll. of Staten Island H.S. of Int'l Studies) finished fifth in the long jump at 4.67 meters (15' 4").

In the 100-meter hurdles, Molly Baker (Newark Valley) and Ali Galus (Buffalo/Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart) finished second and third, respectively, out of 14 participants. Baker finished in 16.43 seconds and Galus finished shortly after in 16.52 seconds.

Courtney Maurin (Pine Bush) finished fifth out of a field of 19 in the 5,000 meters in 20:03.96 and Courtney Schoepflin (Chaffee/Pioneer) finished sixth in 20:06.48. Other Red Dragon highlights included a fifth-place finish by Rachel Whitcomb (Tioga) in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.45 meters (4' 9"); Sarah Norris (Ballston Spa) with a fifth-place finish in the javelin throw at 29.69 meters (97' 5"); and Athena Johnson (Port Washington/Paul D. Schreiber) placing eighth out of 14 competitors in the discus throw (29.09 meters/95' 5").

(Recap by Cortland sports information intern John Nocco)

Cortland Meet Results (PDF)
Kutztown Results (men only)

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

To start off, I'd like to talk a little about the two gentlemen that competed at Kutztown on Thursday and Friday.  It's hard to understand how physically and emotionally draining a decathlon can be.  The first day is a lot of hard work and takes about 6 or 7 hours.  The second day can be closer to 8 or 9.  Because of this the first one of the year can be very tough, and Isaiah Brooks and Zach Kashmer did a great job, both achieving lifetime best scores!  Zach actually beat four other guys that competed against him in the heptathlon at the indoor nationals - 25% of the NCAA field was at this meet - and his score would have been a qualifier for the NCAA championships just last year.

The team that competed at our home meet fought some tough conditions at times with the weather, so we are very proud of what they were able to accomplish.  Our horizontal jumps had some great efforts from everybody but the jumps of freshmen Rachel Whitcomb, Kitty Tang, and Eliza Schutt, along with sophomore Riley Wood, really stand out as big achievements on the day.  Our women's 5k, led by Courtney Maurin and 'lil' Courtney Schoepflin, had great runs. 

The javelin throwers dealt well with rain and wet grass to put up some big throws, with Cat Lutjen already near her school record and with freshman Liz Spencer throwing a SUNYAC qualifier, while the hammer throw was great for us with both the men and women: if I'm correct, fIve of our men and both of our women threw either their season's best or career best!

We recognize that we're fortunate to have the level of support from the College and the athletic department to go the the meet at Kutztown, host a home meet, and to head down to the Bucknell Bison Invite this weekend as well! Track and field is a weird and complex sport, and having that amount of support and flexibility to put our individuals in the best position to succeed is incredible to have!