CORTLAND, N.Y. – Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) earned two of Cortland's five individual event victories as the Red Dragons' women's outdoor track and field team hosted the Cortland Classic Saturday at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex.
 
Cortland's women's and men's teams will return to action when they host the Cortland Qualifier meet on Sunday, May 2, at 3 p.m. Cortland will also be the site for the SUNYAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships May 7-8.
 
Hunter won the 100-meter dash in 12.59 seconds, which ranks fourth in the Division III Atlantic region, and she won the 200-meter dash in 26.23 seconds, which ranks 12th.
 
Three Cortland high jumpers each cleared career bests of 1.64 meters (5' 4.5"), which is tied for 22nd nationally in Division III and is first in the region. Aubrianna Lantrip (Phelps/Midlakes) officially finished first since she had no misses through 1.64 meters. Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) was second as she missed twice before clearing 1.61 meters, but cleared 1.64 meters on her first attempt. Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) was third as she missed twice at 1.64 meters before succeeding and also was unsuccessful twice at 1.61 meters.
 
Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Center for Science and Math) took top honors in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:07.99, which ranks 10th regionally. Kimmy Arena (West Islip) captured the pole vault title by clearing 2.80 meters (9' 2.25").
 
The 4x400-meter relay team of Liriano, Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees), Vanessa Burkard (Newfane) and Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) finished first in 4:17.70 and ranks 11th regionally. In addition, Imbornoni was second in the 800 meters in 2:22.84, ranking her 19th regionally, followed by Zamroz in third (2:26.84) and Burkard in fifth (2:28.31).
 
Lantrip posted a runner-up finish in the 100-meter hurdles. She had a time of 16.22 seconds in the finals and 16.06 seconds in the prelims. Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) finished third in 16.84 seconds and Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River) was fifth in 17.52 seconds. Anderson also was fourth in the long jump at 4.99 meters (16' 4.5"), followed by Kitty Tang (Staten Island/Coll. of Staten Island H.S. for Int'l Studies) in fifth at 4.93 meters (16' 2.25").
 
Abby McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee) and Donnelly finished second and third, respectively, in the triple jump. McDowell's distance of 10.49 meters (34' 5") is 14th regionally, while Donnelly is 20th in the region with her effort of 10.34 meters (33' 11.25").
 
Sydney Smith (Greenville) turned in a second-place finish in the 10,000 meters (43:10.40), with Marlee Angus (Penfield) fourth (44:05.51). Morgan Sharer (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) placed third in the javelin (26.07 meters/85' 6") and Liz Spencer (Somers) was fifth in the shot put (9.72 meters/31' 10.75").

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

It was great to have some warmer weather over the weekend for the team to compete in; we are especially thankful that the weather held out for us on Sunday. We had a headwind for some races, but thankfully the rain held off.
 
I'm hopeful that where we made mistakes today we will be able to learn from them and move forward to a greater level of success. Mistakes aren't a problem as long as we can progress and continue to improve!
 
For both teams, triple jump was a pretty strong event over the weekend, as all four of our athletes (Matteson Donnelly and Abby McDowell for the women; Wendell Brand and Amarian Hughes for the men) had a season's best. All four did a good job of executing the skills we are working on!  The women's high was a good but frustrating day, as all three ladies showed season's best of 1.64 meters to lead the conference and move up the national list. All three (Danielle Fisk, Aubrianna Lantrip, and Nicole Van Pelt) had good attempts at 1.67 meters, so we are excited for where we can possibly be in the next couple of weeks with those three!
 
The men's team had some strong depth in the short sprints and high hurdles, and competed very well considering the headwind that they ran into during all three events. The four men in the 4x100 relay (Alhagie Sesay, Brett Morse, Craig Denton, and Aaron Jones), along with Isaiah Brooks, took 8 of the 9 top spots in the 100, 200, and 110 High Hurdles, which leaves a lot to be pleased with; teammate Taylor Hunter – recently elected as the Student Government President – swept the 100 and 200 on Saturday for the women with season's bests in both events!
 
Finally, I'd like to make note of Ryan Serp – in his first decathlon, he set or tied collegiate PRs in 5 events, and hit performances in the other 5 events that were among his best ever for a very strong weekend. Normally the first decathlon a competitor does results in a very challenging day 2, but Ryan fought through the fatigue quite well!
 
The team will be hosting (again!) this upcoming weekend, with the Cortland Qualifier on Sunday, May 2nd as well as hosting the SUNYAC Championships the following Friday and Saturday.