CORTLAND, N.Y. – Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) moved into the top 15 nationally in the high jump as the Cortland women's outdoor track and field team hosted the Cortland Challenge at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex.
 
The non-team scoring meet featured six schools – Ithaca, Le Moyne, Oneonta, Oswego and Utica, along with the host Red Dragons. Cortland's men will host its version of the meet on Monday at 3 p.m., and both Red Dragon squads will head to the University at Buffalo for a meet on Saturday, April 17.
 
Fisk won the high jump with a height of 1.62 meters (5' 3.75") this is currently tied for 15th nationally in Division III and is second in the Atlantic region. Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) finished second in the event by clearing 1.59 meters (5' 2.5"); she is currently ranked third in the region and 21st nationally based on a previous performance.
 
Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) won the 100-meter dash in 12.63 seconds, and finished second out of 15 competitors in the 200-meter dash in 26.40 seconds. Her 100-meter time ranks fourth regionally, and she's 10th regionally in the 200 based on an earlier effort this spring. Hunter also anchored the second-place 4x100-meter relay team, which also featured Alyssa LaBelle (Poughquag/Arlington), Katherine McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee) and Abby McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee), with a time of 54.25 seconds that ranks ninth regionally.
 
Rachel Castello (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East) won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 12:19.21, which ranks eighth regionally, and Catie Lally (Binghamton/Chenango Forks) was second in the discus at 34.64 meters (113' 8"), which ranks 10th regionally. Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) was the runner-up in the 800 meters in 2:27.82, followed by Marlee Angus (Penfield) in third at 2:31.75.
 
Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) matched her season best and regionally 15th-ranked distance in the long jump with a third-place effort of 4.95 meters (16' 3"). She was also fourth in the 100-meter hurdles (16.74) and sixth in the 200-meter dash (28.63). Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees) was fourth in the 1,500 meters (5:14.91), Morgan Sharer (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) was fourth in the javelin (22.97 meters/75' 4"), and Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River) placed fourth in the triple jump (10.00 meters/32' 9.75").
 
Liz Spencer (Somers) finished fifth in the javelin (22.36 meters/73' 4"), sixth in the hammer throw (35.34 meters/115' 11"), and seventh in the discus (28.01 meters/91' 10"). Khalifah Tracey (Greenville) finished fifth in the 1,500 meters (5:16.36), and Vanessa Burkard (Newfane) turned in a sixth-place effort in the 800 meters (2:39.24). (Katherine) McDowell was seventh in the 200 meters (28.67) and Kimmy Arena (West Islip) finished seventh in the pole vault, clearing 3.05 meters (10' 0").

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

It's still a little strange to be at meets; in a 'normal' year we would be attending and/or hosting large invitationals with 15 – 40 teams, so to be in a meet with only 6 teams is a bit unusual.  That being said we're incredibly happy to compete, and have some of our folks that really are making the most of it!
 
While the rain presented a challenge to us, the temperatures stayed warm enough and the wind favorable. We've certainly had meets in worse conditions! 
 
Some performances to highlight today would include both of our high jump competitors, Danielle Fisk and Nicole Van Pelt. Both had strong results, but more importantly both made great progress with their technique and approach to the event!  Kimmy Arena had a strong day in the pole vault to re-take the conference lead (and to break the 10' barrier in college), and Catie Lally improved upon her personal best in the discus throw.  Both Lauren Anderson and Matteson Donnelly had strong performances in the high hurdles and the horizontal jumps (Lauren in the long jump and Matteson in the triple jump).  Matteson had a pretty exceptional day considering that not only was today her first collegiate competition, it was her first outdoor track and field meet ever!  This means that it was her first time over a flight of 10 hurdles in competition. To nearly break 17 seconds on her first time out is a pretty strong start!
 
Finally, I'd like to recognize our two steeplechasers today.  The steeplechase is a grueling and unforgiving event under the best of circumstances; sophomore Rachel Castello and freshman Aliesha Howard were the only two finishers, which is a very challenging way to run! Both showed a lot of toughness to fight for good opening times in the event – for both, this was their first 3000-meter steeple chase ever, since they only ran the 2000-meter equivalent in high school.
 
The men host their meet tomorrow, which we are looking forward to; next up for the women is to travel to the University of Buffalo on Saturday, April 17th.