UTICA, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track and field team finished in fifth place out of 20 schools at the Utica College Blue and Orange Invitational and Multi Saturday and Sunday.

The Red Dragons scored 50 points, slightly ahead of St. Lawrence (48.5) and Plattsburgh (47.5) and just two points behind fourth-place RPI. Ithaca won the team title (171), followed by Division II Lock Haven (91.5) and the host Pioneers (65).

Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) led Cortland with two third-place finishes, both with All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks. She was third of 76 in the 200-meter dash in 26.17 seconds, which ranks 35th nationally in Division III and ninth in the AARTFC, and she was third of 31 in the 60-meter dash in 7.96 seconds, which is 10th in the AARTFC.

Cortland's other AARTFC qualifiers at the meet were Kelly Gardner (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) in the triple jump with a third-place distance of 10.89 meters (35' 8.75") and Emily Russell (Southold) in the pentathlon with the third-best collegiate score of 2,650 points. Russell recorded the top shot put in the pentathlon at 10.19 meters (33' 5.25") and was tied for first in the high jump at 1.53 meters (5' 0.25"), which was worth 655 points.

Madison Ciuffetelli (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills East) was the third collegiate finisher (fourth overall) in the 5,000 meters in 19:30.66. Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) finished fifth in the 800 meters (2:23.69), while Courtney Maurin (Pine Bush) was fifth in the scoring (seventh overall) in the 5,000 meters in 19:49.29. Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) placed sixth in the high jump with a height of 1.46 meters (4' 9.5").

Gardner finished seventh in the 200-meter dash (26.97), Stephanie Kiluba (Kingston) was seventh in the triple jump (10.58 meters/34' 8.5"), and Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) was seventh among scoring athletes (ninth overall) in the pentathlon (2,432 points).

Rounding out Cortland's scorers were three eighth-place finishers: Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees) in the 5,000 meters (10th overall; 19:59.50); Abigail McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee) in the triple jump (10.44 meters/34' 3"); and Kim White (Marathon) in the pentathlon (10th overall; 2,320 points).

Kiluba just missed the finals in the 60-meter hurdles, placing ninth of 36 in 9.80 seconds. Four Red Dragons finished in 10th place: Gardner in the long jump (4.95 meters/16' 3"); Jesse Correale (Staten Island/Notre Dame Academy) in the 400-meter dash (1:03.20); McKenzie Dombroski (Chittenango)  in the 3,000 meters (11:12.96); and Eliza Nichols (Smithtown/Smithtown West) in the 5,000 meters (12th overall; 20:08.76).

Cortland is scheduled to send competitors to the Boston University Valentine Invitational next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 14-15, and to the Cornell Sunday Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 16.

Complete Results:
Women
Men

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

It's been a long weekend competing at 'the Hutt' in Utica between the 'regular meet' on Saturday and the finish of the heptathlon and pentathlon that occurred on Sunday.

Especially after the dumping of snow that happened on Friday and really interrupted our routine, we had an awesome meet this weekend through the long grind that the weekend was!

I think the team placing (first for the men and fifth for the women) is a really good indicator, especially against such a large field of schools.

Track and field can be pretty weird especially compared to other sports in that every single competitive effort of every athlete is measured and evaluated.  That's pretty unique, and can be pretty challenging mentally!  I made a point of emailing the team on Saturday night to point out not only how many great performances we had, but more importantly how tremendous our effort and attitude was.

Across events, nearly everybody competing this weekend was focused on the process of how to get better.  That's quite challenging to do, especially in sport (and a culture) that rewards results.

It takes an extra level of responsibility and discipline to stay focused on trying to do the 'right thing,' even if it doesn't give you immediate positive results, and that was something we were incredibly strong in today.

We had our mistakes and goofs, but of course those are going to happen.  What made this weekend stand out so strongly in my mind is how we were working on our process and being great at recognizing our mistakes so that we could move forward and progress for the future!

As proud as we are of this as coaches, we're just as excited for what this can mean as we move into the next phase of our indoor season!