ROCHESTER, N.Y. and ITHACA, N.Y. – In its final week of preparation before the SUNYAC Championships, the Cortland women's indoor track and field teams sent competitors to the Nazareth Conference Tune-up Invitational on Friday and the Cornell Marc Deneault Invitational on Saturday.
 
Five Red Dragons finished in the top 13 out of 33 runners in the mile run at Nazareth. Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees) led the way with a personal-best time of 5:23.17 for second place. Sera King (Oceanside) finished fourth (5:39.66), Marlee Angus (Penfield) was seventh (5:39.67), Courtney Schoepflin (Chaffee/Pioneer) placed 11th (5:43.70) and Rachel Castello (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East) was 13th (5:44.66).
 
Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) and Emily Russell (Southold) each cleared 1.51 meters (4' 11.5") in the high jump. Van Pelt was officially third out of 19 competitors and Russell tied for sixth as Van Pelt was successful on her first attempt and Russell made the height on her third try.
 
Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) finished ninth of 24 in the 60-meter hurdles (10.36) and Liz Spencer (Somers) was 17th of 41 in the shot put (10.37 meters/34' 0.25").
 
At Cornell, Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) registered two All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying efforts and Kelly Gardner (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) met one AARTFC mark. Hunter was sixth of 28 in the 200-meter dash (26.07) and 13th of 31 in the 60-meter dash (8.06), while Gardner was second of 13 in the triple jump at 10.89 meters (35' 8.75").
 
Jesse Correale (Staten Island/Notre Dame Academy) finished second of 18 in the 400-meter dash in 1:01.58. Bridget Bennett (Castleton/Maple Hill) placed sixth in the event in 1:02.81, and she was eighth in the 200-meter dash in 26.96 seconds.
 
McKenzie Dombroski (Chittenango) placed seventh of 25 in the 800 meters (2:23.96), Gardner was eighth of 21 in the long jump (4.95 meters/16' 3") and Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) ended eighth of 22 in the mile (5:24.24). Madison Ciuffetelli (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills East) finished eighth of 18 in the 3,000 meters (11:05.10), followed by Courtney Maurin (Pine Bush) in ninth (11:17.35).
 
Brockport will host the SUNYAC Championships on Friday and Saturday.

Complete Results
Nazareth (men and women combined)
Cornell (men and women combined)

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

We had a lot of really strong performances between the meet on Friday at Nazareth College, and the meet on Saturday at Cornell University.  First, I'd like to recognize how great it is to have the opportunity to split the team up so that people can get to the best competitive opportunity.
 
At Nazareth, our women's throws really shined as a group, with about half of the squad throwing season bests, and the rest being right up there with improved efforts.  Not to be outdone, David Bernstein had a really strong throw in the weight to continue pushing his season's best out there!
 
Our women's pole vault had a great day as well – overcoming not only a really late start, but just competing really well so that both Becca Gresens and Kimmy Arena left Nazareth with new collegiate bests!
 
Junior Cat Zamroz recorded a massive PR to lead our milers, taking 20 seconds off of her previous best to move into the top five of the conference.  It was a stellar breakout performance for her!
 
For the men, senior Liam Joyce had two strong rounds of the 60, but really capped off the day with a tremendous run in the 200, making him a force to be reckoned with at the conference championships next weekend.  Freshman Brett Morse had a strong 200 as well – earning a spot in the event for the conference meet – but shined in the long jump, where he went nearly 60 centimeters (nearly two feet) further than his previous collegiate best, putting him into scoring position for the conference meet.
 
At Cornell, there were some very strong performances to celebrate on the day!  The 300 from Peyton Lalone appears to make him the fourth fastest ever at Cortland in that event, moving double NCAA Champion Amaan Siddeeq out of the top five.  That's a pretty big accomplishment!  Also on the track, sophomore Clayton Santiago ran a great 3000 to earn a spot at the conference meet, while junior Rich Samuels ran a stellar 800: in a race where he was focusing on his finish, he had a huge negative split (he went out in nearly 59 seconds, and then focused on finishing fast, running under 56 seconds for the second half of the race).  This is incredibly hard to do, and shows where his fitness and closing speed are as we head into championships season.  Sophomore Bridget Bennett had a tremendous 200 – breaking the 27-second barrier on a flat track – which moves her into to automatic qualifiers for this weekend's conference championships.  In the women's 3000, a great team effort from Eliza Nichols and Courtney Maurin kept the pace moving and helped sophomore Madison Ciuffetelli run 11:05 in the event, which is a huge indoor PR for her; finally freshman McKenzie Dombroski ran an indoor PR – and nearly a lifetime best – in the 800 as a strong tune-up for next weekend's conference meet.
 
In the jumps, Kelly Gardner and Micah Assibey-Bonsu both had strong triple jump performances – Kelly tying her season's best, with Micah exceeding his by nearly a foot.  Heptathlete Zach Kashmer, focusing on the pole vault, broke the 15 foot barrier with a lifetime best.  That jump will translate into a lot of points during his main event, the heptathlon!
 
Friday afternoon, we open competition at the 2020 SUNYAC Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted at Brockport.  The team is looking forward to having a great meet, and measuring ourselves against the rest of the conference.