UTICA, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track and field team, bolstered by six first-place finishes, claimed the team title out of 11 schools at the Utica University Holiday Classic.
 
Cortland scored 210.5 points, more than double than second-place Utica (105). Westfield State (72.5) finished third and RPI (70) was fourth.
 
Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Ctr. for Science and Math) won the 400-meter dash in 1:00.58 and Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) was the high jump champ at 1.57 meters (5' 1.75"). As of late Saturday night they each ranked 19th nationally in Division III in their events.
 
Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) won the 60-meter dash in 8.04 seconds and Sarah Parr (Cooperstown) was the weight throw winner with a distance of 14.51 meters (47' 7.25"). Marlee Angus (Penfield) took top honors in the 800 meters (2:31.21) and Becca Bready (Rochester/Gates Chili) won the pole vault by clearing 3.00 meters (9' 10").
 
Cortland is idle until Jan. 14 when it heads back to Utica for the Utica University Winter Opener.
 
Cortland's scoring (top 8) performances at the meet were:
(* AARTFC qualifier)
 
Elizabeth Liriano
1st, 400-meter dash, 1:00.58*
3rd, 200-meter dash, 26.82
 
Danielle Fisk
1st, High Jump, 1.57 meters (5' 1.75")*
 
Autumn Pittman
1st, 60-meter dash, 8.04*
5th, 200-meter dash, 27.18
 
Sarah Parr
1st, Weight Throw, 14.51 meters (47' 7.25")*
 
Marlee Angus
1st, 800 meters, 2:31.21
2nd, Mile, 5:25.68
 
Becca Bready
1st, Pole Vault, 3.00 meters (9' 10")
 
Avery Hebert (Stillwater)
2nd, 400-meter dash, 1:02.19
8th, 200-meter dash, 27.70
 
Khalifah Tracey (Greenville)
2nd, 5,000 meters, 19:33.83
 
AnJalyna Talmadge (Pine Bush)
2nd, 60-meter hurdles, 9.55
3rd (tied), High Jump, 1.52 meters (4' 11.75")
4th (5th overall), Long Jump, 5.01 meters (16' 5.25")
 
Kimmy Arena (West Islip)
2nd, Pole Vault, 2.90 meters (9' 6.25")
 
Caitlin Maher (Hartsdale/Ardsley)
2nd, Triple Jump, 10.53 meters (34' 6.75")
 
Megan Spencer (Somers)
2nd (4th overall), Shot Put, 10.23 meters (33' 6.75")
4th (6th overall), Weight Throw, 12.79 meters (41' 11.5")
 
Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury)
3rd, 400-meter dash, 1:02.66
 
Vanessa Burkard (Newfane)
3rd, 5,000 meters, 19:38.67
 
Faith Hoyt (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon)
3rd, Pole Vault, 2.75 meters (9' 0.25")
 
Alyssa LaBelle (Poughquag/Arlington)
3rd (4th overall), Long Jump, 5.06 meters (16' 7.25")
6th, 60-meter dash, 8.26
 
Adrienne Martin (Cincinnatus/Norwich)
4th, 5,000 meters, 19:41.00
 
Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs)
4th, 60-meter hurdles, 10.05
6th (7th overall), Long Jump, 4.78 meters (15' 8.25")
 
Devin Reilly (Irvington)
5th, 5,000 meters, 19:43.31
 
Mariah Saggese (Oneonta/Milford)
5th, High Jump, 1.52 meters (4' 11.75")
 
Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River)
5th, Triple Jump, 10.29 meters (33' 9.25")
 
Abbie Gregory (Guilderland)
6th, 60-meter hurdles, 10.48
 
Mallory Casler (Clinton/Victor)
6th, High Jump, 1.52 meters (4' 11.75")
7th, 60-meter hurdles, 10.49
 
Maris Seabury (Old Chatham/Ichabod Crane)
7th, 400-meter dash, 1:05.36
 
Rachel Castello (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East)
7th, 5,000 meters, 19:50.93
 
Helena Trackey (Glens Falls)
8th, 400-meter dash, 1:05.91
 
Anika Parnell (Corinth)
8th, 800 meters, 2:46.35
8th, Mile, 5:52.76
 
Rebecca Salim (White Plains)
8th, Triple Jump, 9.77 meters (32' 0.75")

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

I feel very fortunate that we had the opportunity to bring a large chunk of the team to Utica to compete today. Almost everybody competing had an improvement in their process as compared to last week at Cornell. We may not have gotten PRs across the board, but I'm very please with what happened today, especially after what is a tiring and stressful week with the end of  fall semester classes! While we didn't stress the team score at all, its always nice to put together a couple of team victories as well!
 
For the Lady Red Dragons, we saw a very impressive day on the track in the sprints. Obviously having wins in the 60 and 400 (by Autumn Pittman and Liz Liriano respectively) was very nice, but the depth in both events was quite positive on the day. We had a number of PRs, and a number of folks that ran significantly faster than the previous year at the same meet. Folks have been putting in a good deal of work, and it is great to see it paying off.

Moving up to the distance events, Marlee Angus put together an excellent day to end her semester in the 800 and the mile – not just running strong performances, but really executing her plan quite well during the event. We really showed off our depth at the start of the day with the women's 5000, however. We aimed to have a pack of runners at 12 minutes at the 3000 meter mark, which we did achieved quite well with all seven ladies. Our plan was to then push the final 2000 meters fairly hard, and we had a great level of success with that as Khalifah Tracey, Vanessa Burkard, Adrienne Martin, Devin Reilly, and Rachel Castello all finished under the 20-minute mark! For both Adrienne and Devin, that was a big lifetime PR in the event! In the jumps, every single woman had a season's best, which I'm not sure has ever happened with me before as a head coach! In particular I'd like to highlight AnJalyna Talmadge, who had a lifetime best in long jump, a season's best in high jump, and a lifetime best in the high hurdles.
 
The men's team had quite a strong day overall as well, obviously highlighted by Dane Sorensen's new school record in the pole vault (becoming the third Red Dragon over 5 meters ever, which is quite an accomplishment) and Isaiah Brunache's stellar shot put performance, which lands him currently second in the country and in the #2 spot all-time at Cortland. We had some incredibly depth in the 200 and 400 (with some wonderful individual performances led by Aaron Jones in the 200 and Coltrane Goring in the 400); Cam Szabo and Hunter Brignall executed race plans wonderfully to lead strong contingents in the 800 and mile events; in the 5000 the men like the women had a fairly easy pace through 3000 meters; all five men finished well under that pace led by Robbie Davidson who dropped over 15 seconds per thousand over the final 10 laps!

It would be foolish not to mention Amarian Hughes who had a strong day with a new personal rest in the triple jump, and Brett Morse who led a strong contingent in both the long jump and the high hurdles (where he once again improved his personal best, and is now tied for 5th on our all-time list). But I think that I would like to highlight senior Hagie Sesay, who had a huge PR in the long jump (indoors) and a one of his best performances ever in the 200 as he's a guy who has worked tremendously hard over his time with us and it's really enjoyable to watch things coming together for him!
 
Up next is a well-deserved reduction in training which coincides nicely with our final exam week; after some time at home we will be back in action in 2023!