SELINSGROVE, PA. – Sprinter Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) registered a pair of top-five finishes as the Cortland women opened their outdoor season at the Susquehanna University Jim Taylor Invitational Friday and Saturday.
 
Hunter finished fourth out of 60 competitors in the 100-meter dash in 12.84 seconds and fifth of 66 in the 200-meter dash in 26.81 seconds. Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) was sixth in the 200 meters in 27.02 seconds, and she had the seventh-best time in the 100-meter prelims in 12.95 seconds but didn't qualify for the finals since only the heat winners advanced and she placed behind Hunter.
 
Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) finished seventh of 56 in the long jump with a distance of 5.16 meters (16' 11.25") and was 14th of 39 in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.25 seconds. Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) placed seventh of 31 in the high jump at 1.55 meters (5' 1") and finished 14th in the long jump (4.75 meters/15' 7"). Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River) was 12th of 37 in the triple jump (10.13 meters/33' 3") and was 19th in the long jump (4.63 meters/15' 2.25").
 
Kimmy Arena (West Islip) ended up ninth of 33 in the pole vault with a height of 3.05 meters (10' 0"). Kat Burgess (West Hempstead) and Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Ctr. for Science and Math) finished 10th (1:13.41) and 11th (1:13.67), respectively, out of 31 in the 400-meter hurdles.
 
Five Red Dragons placed in the top half of the field in the 46-entrant 5,000-meter run. Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees) was 13th in 19:15.97, followed by Vanessa Burkard (Newfane) in 14th (19:19.13), Marlee Angus (Penfield) in 15th (19:19.23), Khalifah Tracey (Greenville) in 16th (19:19.89) and Rachel Castello (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East) in 17th (19:22.24).
 
Catie Lally (Binghamton/Chenango Forks) was 13th of 55 in the discus at 32.90 meters (107' 11"). Liz Spencer (Somers) was 18th in the discus (30.32 meters/99' 6") and 15th of 47 in the shot put (10.20 meters/33' 5.75"), while Sarah Parr (Cooperstown) placed 16th in the shot put (10.11 meters/33' 2") and 17th of 56 in the hammer throw (35.42 meters/116' 2").

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

It was great to open our outdoor season – in some ways, this was the first one for us since 2019! While we were very fortunate to have opportunities to compete last spring, it wasn't a 'normal' season; some of the team hadn't competed outdoors since 2019 in any way because of individual circumstances, so this was certainly a good position for us to be in.
 
The meet was rather strange, as it was quite large, and we battled some challenging weather. I counted at least 3 different snow flurries, a couple of significant rainstorms, and some wonderful stretches of sunny weather. We had talked about the fact that the weather would be a challenge, and that we needed to focus on what was under our control, and work to compete well. For the most part, I'd say we were pretty successful at doing that!
 
Mitchell Makowski opened our season up with a really nice lifetime best in the hammer throw (51.86m/170' 2"), that is now 4th-best all-time at Cortland. The best part is that it wasn't the best he can do with his technique, and he knew it immediately. That's always an exciting place to be! Zach Nyhart also put is name into our top-5 list, with his vault of 4.75m (15' 7"); we saw some really strong performances out of our javelin throwers (Ryan Joule and Stuart McLeod), in the men's 100 (where I am really pleased with both the performances as well as the approach to competition), and the men's 5000 meters – in particular, I'd like to highlight Harry Tomasi, who turned in a stellar performance to run 15:25! For perspective, last year Harry barely broke 17 minutes, so it is nice to see the work he has been putting in result in a strong performance!
 
The toughest performance of the day, however, was clearly from Sam Haaland in the pole vault. On his first attempt at his second height, he ended up getting hit in the knee by the pole during his miss. For those who have never felt it, it probably felt close to being hit in the leg by a 9-year-old wielding a baseball bat. Sam was the only vaulter jumping at that height, so we made the decision to pass his next two attempt to the next height to give him some time to see if he could shake it off. I had given him the option to withdraw from the competition, but he chose to stay in and ended up making the next height (4.40m/ 14'5.25"), and taking really good jumps at the next height. Passing attempts during a height is never an easy thing to do, especially after getting hit like that, so Sam showed a lot of focus and competitiveness today!
 
On the women's side, the emphasis on the process and following the instructions/feedback/race plan paid off with good early season marks, that are a great foundation for where we are going to be as the season progresses. Certainly Taylor Hunter had a strong day with her performances in the 100 and 200 to lead the sprint group in both events; our results in the 100 in particular are quite exciting for this early in the season! The ladies in the 5000 did a stellar job of working together, talking, and paying attention to where there were in the race. It's not as fast as they are capable of going, but it was a personal best for nearly all of them, and a great display of toughness and commitment. Our throws group did a really good job, with a different leader in each of the four events, which showcases our depth!
 
For the women, Lauren Anderson was probably our star of the meet – she started off the day with a solid effort in the 100 hurdles, opening her season over a second faster than last year. She also had the best push out of the blocks in a race effort, and it actually made it harder to perform as she got way too close to the first hurdle. That's a great problem to have, and should be something that we can work on and have adjusted in practice soon. Lauren came back to then set personal records in both the long jump (nearly breaking the seventeen-foot barrier) as well as in the 200. That's certainly a great way to start the season!
 
We are going to have a good week of training, and head to two meets next weekend: we will be at Widener University and at Hamilton College, where we will be looking to take the next steps in our progression for the season.