BOSTON, MASS. and ITHACA, N.Y. – Cortland sophomore Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) set a school record in the 200-meter dash at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational. The Red Dragons sent some competitors to that meet Friday and Saturday and others to the Cornell University Sunday Invitational.

Hunter finished 55th overall out of 301 entrants and was the third-best Division III performer with her 200-meter time of 25.35 seconds. The previous school record of 25.43 seconds was set by Dana Kupiec in 2017. Hunter's performance currently ties her for 10th place nationally, is fourth in the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) and is first in the SUNYAC.

Also in Boston, Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) finished 127th of 261 in the 800 meters in 2:19.55, which currently ranks 12th in the AARTFC, and Kelly Gardner (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) was 153rd in the 200-meter dash in 26.56 seconds.

At Cornell, Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) hit an AARTFC mark in the high jump with her fifth-place height of 1.61 meters (5' 3.25"). Stephanie Kiluba (Kingston) posted two wins at the meet – she captured the 60-meter hurdles in 9.68 seconds and the triple jump at 10.41 meters (34' 2"). Jesse Correale (Staten Island/Notre Dame Academy) won the 400-meter dash in 1:02.75 and was eight of 22 in the 200-meter dash (27.74).

Five Red Dragons placed in the top 12 of the 24-entrant mile run. Eliza Nichols (Smithtown/Smithtown West) was fifth in 5:34.02, followed by Madison Ciuffetelli (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills East) in eighth (5:37.39) and Courtney Maurin (Pine Bush) in ninth (5:37.40). Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees) finished 11th (5:45.21) and Sera King (Oceanside) was 12th (5:46.61).

Kim White (Marathon) and Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) finished sixth (10.22) and eighth (10.30, 10.29 prelims), respectively, in the 60-meter hurdles. Anderson was also seventh of 18 in the long jump (4.79 meters/15' 8.75"). Jada Williams (Beacon) ranked sixth of 23 in the 60-meter dash (8.19, 8.16 prelims) and was 11th in the 200-meter dash (28.30), and Rachel Castello (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East) finished 11th of 23 in the 3,000 meters (11:22.81).

Cortland heads to the Nazareth Conference Tune-up Invitational next Friday and the Cornell Deneault Invitational next Saturday.

Complete Results:
Boston U. Women
Cornell Women
Boston U. Men
Cornell Men


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

This weekend is always a very long weekend of track and field, which is pretty cool!  We're fortunate to have the opportunity and the support to get the people that are best served by going to Boston University out to that meet, and to have the opportunity to get the folks that would benefit the most from competing at Cornell to that meet.  Each facility and meet has advantages for different events, which is very good for us to take advantage of!
 
At Boston, an obvious highlight to mention is Taylor Hunter breaking the Cortland school record in the 200.  Any time you have gone faster than everybody before you, it is a pretty good sign that the hard work is paying off!  Rich Samuels put together a pretty strong weekend as well, running 1:54 in the 800 both in the DMR on Friday night, and then about 13 hours later in the open 800 is a pretty good double!  Finishing off the weekend with a 48-flat anchor leg in the 4x400 is a pretty big deal as well!
 
For both the women and men, the 200s and 400s were pretty strong at Boston, and the mid-distance events gave us some strong positive movement forward.  Besides Taylor's 200, both of our men's relays (the 4x400 and the DMR) finished off the weekend with the #3 performance in Cortland history, and a pretty high NCAA ranking.  It's also exciting in that as good as many of our performances were, there is a lot of room for continued improvement!
 
We had a lot of good things happen at Cornell on Sunday, as well.  Isaiah Brooks put together a strong day with a solid pole vault effort, followed by a lifetime PR in the 60HH.  Dane Sorensen continued his progression back from an injury that kept him away from training, clearing a solid height and taking great attempts all day long.  Our men's distance squad had some really nice efforts, as Mike Verde ran a lifetime best in the 3000, and Josh Nogaret cranked out a really strong performance in the mile!  Nicole Van Pelt had a lifetime best in the high jump, and is really looking ready to progress to higher heights; freshman Jada Williams had a big PR in the 60 today that moved her well up the conference performance list.  Finally, freshman Rachel Castello closed the day with a huge PR in the 3000.  Compared to her best performance in high school, she has taken 80 seconds off of her best so far.  That's quite an accomplishment!
 
We're looking forward to getting ready for the SUNYAC Championship meet on February 28th and 29th; this upcoming weekend the squad will split between Nazareth College on Friday and a return to Cornell on Saturday.