CORTLAND, N.Y. – Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) won two sprints and anchored Cortland's winning 4x100-meter relay team as the Red Dragons' women's track and field team hosted the Cortland Conference Qualifier meet at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex.
 
The meet was Cortland's last prior to the SUNYAC Championships May 7-8, which the Red Dragons will also be hosting.
 
Hunter won the 100-meter dash in 12.75 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 26.54 seconds. The quartet of Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River), Katherine McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee), Abby McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee) and Hunter won the 4x100-meter relay in 50.88 seconds, which ranks eighth regionally. Donnelly was also third in both the 100-meter hurdles (17.23) and the triple jump (10.12 meters/33' 2.5").
 
Hunter earned two of Cortland's five individual victories at the meet. Aubrianna Lantrip (Phelps/Midlakes) won the high jump by clearing 1.64 meters (5' 4.5"), Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Center for Science and Math) won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:07.38, which ranks 10th regionally, and Kimmy Arena (West Islip) took top honors in the pole vault at 3.20 meters (10' 6"), which ranks 11th in the region. Lantrip also posted a third-place time of 27.65 seconds in the 200-meter dash and a sixth-place long jump of 4.91 meters (16' 1.5").
 
Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) placed second in the 100-meter hurdles (17.14) and third in the long jump (5.04 meters/16' 6.5"). Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees) was second in the 1,500 meters (5:01.14) and fourth in the 800 meters (2:34.58), while Kitty Tang (Staten Island/Coll. of Staten Island H.S. for Int'l Studies) was runner-up in the triple jump (10.16 meters/33' 4") and fifth in the long jump (4.95 meters/16' 3").
 
Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) followed Lantrip in the high jump standings. Fisk was second at 1.61 meters (5' 3.25") and Van Pelt was third at 1.56 meters (5' 1.25"). Becca Gresens (Webster/Webster Thomas) was second in the pole vault after clearing 2.80 meters (9' 2.25") and Sophie Steger (Walden/Valley Central) finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:49.70).
 
Vanessa Burkard (Newfane) claimed a third-place finish in the 800 meters (2:33.57) and a fifth-place showing in the 1,500 meters (5:06.10). Marlee Angus (Penfield) was fourth in the 1,500 meters (5:02.97), Morgan Jipson (Oneonta) finished fourth in the triple jump (10.04 meters/32' 11.25"), and Liz Spencer (Somers) was fourth in the shot put (10.11 meters/33' 2").
 
In addition, Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) was fifth in the 800 meters (2:37.37) and sixth in the 1,500 meters (5:06.68). Catie Lally (Binghamton/Chenango Forks) was fifth in the discus (31.79 meters/104' 3") and Morgan Sharer (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) finished sixth in the javelin (23.94 meters/78' 6").

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

I'm very thankful that we once again were able to push our luck in a positive direction with the weather today. While our sprinters and high hurdles dealt with a headwind most of the day, we had only a few light sprinkles to contend with over the course of the day. We had a number of folks that took great advantage of the opportunity today, so that was quite exciting!
 
A wise person once said to me to 'never underestimate the value of winning;' so even if the performance wasn't as top-notch as we had hoped for, the value in being able to compete against others (or, in some cases, yourself) to be the top competitor on the day has value – especially with the conference meet coming up. I feel confident that all those victors were identified in the story from our sports information department, so I won't make you read their names again.
 
For both the men and women, the long jump was a fairly strong event on the day for us, as we saw some big season's best across most of our competitors on the day. It's certainly a great time of year to be doing our best, so we're happy to see those results from Lauren Anderson and Kitty Tang on the women's side, as well as for Wendell Brand, Brett Morse, and Alhagie Sesay on the men's side.  There's still work to do, but it's great to see things moving in the right direction for us!  Kitty came back in the triple jump – for the first time in college – and put herself into the conference meet in that event!
 
Aaron Jones was a strong highlight on the day, as he not only ran a career-best that moved him up the NCAA rankings, but did it into a strong headwind to go along with anchoring the 4x100 relay and earning his third victory of the day with a new best in the 200.
 
Dane Sorensen continued to have good progress in the pole vault with a new season's best, which is always a promising situation; Isaiah Brooks' vault was a new personal best for him as well; Kimmy Arena also jumped a season's best to win the women's competition! And while neither were event winners, Chris Blake had a big personal best in the 400 hurdles, while Marlee Angus dropped a lot of time off of her 1500 personal record in a great effort!
 
Finally, some very important highlights would be individuals overcoming a measure of adversity to put themselves into a strong position – John Nethercott (in the 400) and Rich Samuels (in the 800) both came back for this meet off injuries that limited their training for weeks in an attempt to earn a way into the conference championships; both came out and fought really well to make a strong case for themselves! Elizabeth Liriano overcame less-than-stellar meet management that incorrectly set the hurdles for her race – ultimately, I blame the head coach – and then came back to re-run the event by herself after only a few minutes rest to run her season's best! That was a very tough performance on her part!
 
We're hosting again next weekend!  This time it will be the SUNYAC Championships on Friday and Saturday, and we're looking forward to it!