BROCKPORT, N.Y - Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) won the high jump and the quartet of Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees), Kat Burgess (West Hempstead), Kayla Pucci (Goshen) and Marlee Angus (Penfield) won the distance medley relay to help Cortland finish in third place out of nine schools at the SUNYAC Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships. 
 
Geneseo finished first with 337 points, followed by host Brockport with 156 points and Cortland with 63. Plattsburgh (33), Oneonta (32), Fredonia (17), Buffalo St. (14), Oswego (10) and Potsdam (0) rounded out the nine-team field. 
 
Fisk won the high jump with a height of 1.65 meters (5' 5"). She was tied for the top height with another competitor, but earned the title since she cleared her top height on her first attempt compared to the third try for the other athlete. 
 
The DMR won their race with a time of 13:03.31, and Cortland also picked up a third-place finish from its 4x400-meter relay team of Sam Becker (Narrowsburg/Sullivan West), Katherine McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee), Avery Hebert (Stillwater) and Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Ctr. for Science and Math) in 4:06.27.  
 
Cortland earned a total of nine All-SUNYAC honors (one individual and eight relay runners). All-league honors go to the top three places in each event. Winners are first team, runners-up are second team, and third-place finishers are third team. 
 
Kimmy Arena (West Islip) finished fourth in the pole vault by clearing 3.05 meters (10' 0") and Abby McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee) was fourth in the triple jump at 11.02 meters (36' 2"). Three Red Dragons earned fifth-place finishes - Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) in the 60-meter dash (8.11), Vanessa Burkard (Newfane) in the 5,000 meters (19:08.00), and Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) in the 60-meter hurdles (9.91). 
 
Cortland also had a trio of sixth-place showings with Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) in the 60-meter dash (8.18, 8.04 prelims), Zamroz in the mile (5:26.87), and Sarah Parr (Cooperstown) in the weight throw (13.80 meters/45' 3.5"). Angus finished seventh in the mile (5:29.40). 
 
Also scoring at the meet for the Red Dragons were eighth-place finishers Rebecca Salim (White Plains) in the 60-meter dash (8.31, 8.22 prelims), Khalifah Tracey (Greenville) in the 3,000 meters (10:55.29), and Laura Suppa (Canastota) in both the long jump and 60-meter hurdles. Suppa posted a distance of 5.14 meters (16' 10.5") in the long jump. In the 60-meter hurdles, she was second in the prelims at 9.32 seconds before finishing eighth in the finals (17.15). 
 
Cortland will compete at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday, March 4-5, at Nazareth College. Cortland's AARTFC qualifiers during the SUNYAC Championships were: 
 
Fisk, High Jump 
Hunter, 60-meter dash 
A. McDowell, Triple Jump 
Suppa, 60-meter hurdles 
DMR (Zamroz, Burgess, Pucci, Angus) 
4x400 relay (Becker, K. McDowell, Hebert, Liriano) 
 
Final Team Scores: 
1) Geneseo – 337 
2) Brockport - 156 
3) Cortland - 63 
4) Plattsburgh - 33 
5) Oneonta - 32 
6) Fredonia - 17 
7) Buffalo St. - 14 
8) Oswego - 10 
9) Potsdam - 0

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

This was a great weekend to be a Red Dragon! The conference championships certainly brought out a lot of the best in our program, and it was a very exciting and enjoyable weekend!
 
I'm guessing that over 75% of our team had a season or lifetime best over the weekend, and that is certainly quite an exciting thing to have happen! We're really proud of the development that we were able to demonstrate across all of our events, and it is great to have some tangible evidence of progress! We had so many great performances that ended up outside of scoring position – far to many to mention here, but a great indicator that things are working well for the team!
 
I'd like to make mention of the two biggest breakthrough performances of the weekend. Rebecca Salim – who we were surprised to see amongst the accepted entries – ran a massive PR to make the finals for the 60. Alex Daniel had a similar breakthrough in the triple jump to earn 5th place; he's increased nearly 5 feet since his freshman year, and had the three longest jumps of his collegiate career over the weekend.
 
We have a select group that will be competing this upcoming weekend at the AARTFC Championships with an eye on the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, while most of the team shifts focus to prepare for the outdoor track and field season.