CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland women's outdoor track and field team earned seven victories and 11 second-place finishes at the Cortland Red Dragon Open and Multi Saturday and Sunday.
 
Faith Nelson (Rensselaer/Columbia), Alyssa LaBelle (Poughquag/Arlington), Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) and Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) teamed to win the 4x100-meter relay in 49.89 seconds, which qualifies for the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championships. Hunter won the 200-meter dash in 26.54 seconds, followed by Pittman in 27.00 seconds.
 
Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) posted two wins with her time of 16.22 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and her distance of 5.18 meters (17' 0") in the long jump.
 
Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and Rachel Castello (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East) each earned wins with AARTFC-qualifying efforts. Fisk won the high jump at 1.57 meters (5' 1.75") and Castello won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 12:03.83. Malana Booker (Cortland) placed second behind Fisk in the high jump at 1.52 meters (4' 11.75"). Abby McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee) won the triple jump with a distance of 10.78 meters (35' 4.5") and Rebecca Salim (White Plains) was the runner-up at 10.35 meters (33' 11.5").
 
Laura Suppa (Canastota) finished second in the heptathlon with a score of 3,474 points that currently ranks 15th nationally in Division III and fourth in the AARTFC. Her score included 753 points in the 100-meter hurdles (15.69) and 659 points in the 200-meter dash (27.64). Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Ctr. for Science and Math) posted an AARTFC qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles with her second-place time of 1:06.08 and was second in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:06.08.
 
The 4x400-meter relay unit of Savannah Adami (Guilderland), Marlee Angus (Penfield), Kayla Pucci (Goshen) and Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees) finished second in 4:26.72. Zamroz also earned a second-place finish in the 800 meters (2:24.37).
 
Catie Lally (Binghamton/Chenango Forks) placed second in the discus at 34.08 meters (111' 10"). Sarah Parr (Cooperstown) was second in the hammer throw at 41.86 meters (137' 4") and Morgan Sharer (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) was second in the javelin throw at 22.01 meters (72' 2").
 
The Red Dragons also registered five third place showing: Parr in the discus (32.48 meters/106' 7"); Angus in the 800 meters (2:25.19); Kat Burgess (West Hempstead) in the 400-meter hurdles (1:10.43); Katherine McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee) in the 400-meter dash (1:03.68); and Kimmy Arena (West Islip) in the pole vault (2.76 meters/9' 0.5").

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

For the most part the weather stayed reasonable for our meet on Saturday, which was quite a pleasant surprise considering what the forecast looked like. We did have about 10 minutes of pea-size hail, which might qualify as the worst weather I've ever seen at a track meet. Thankfully it was only short-lived and melted off pretty quickly!
 
It was still pretty cold, and not necessarily ideal for performances, but that didn't stop the Red Dragons! What I'm most impressed over the day was the way in which we went about competing – we did the right things in terms of getting warmed up, executing our race plans/strategies/technique, and being prepared for the opportunities that we had. We certainly saw a number of great performances that were pretty unexpected, which is a great to have this early in the season! Being at home can be a bit of an extra challenge, because it doesn't always bring the focus that you get when traveling to a meet, so to do this over the weekend bodes well for the future.
 
Some standout performances would include all six of our 400 hurdles running season bests (Elizabeth Liriano, Kat Burgess, Maris Seabury, Brandon Root, Christopher Blake, and David Melick), our triple jump squad getting all season bests (Abby McDowell, Rebecca Salim, Matteson Donnelly, Jean-Andre Sassine, and Alex Daniel), our 400 relays (Faith Nelson, Alyssa LaBelle, Autumn Pittman, and Taylor Hunter for the women; Brett Morse, Evan Jensen, Coltrane Goring, and Aaron Jones for the men), and the hammer throw, where we were pretty darn awesome (showing season's bests from Nick Kaires, Stuart McLeod, Sarah Parr, Liz Spencer, Catie Lally, Brianna Schermerhorn, and Morgan Sharer). The hammer throw was probably the best event of the weekend! This isn't a complete list of all the great things that happened over the weekend, but is probably a good representation of places where all of entrants really excelled on the day.
 
We also had four brave souls that competed in the combined-event. Saturday was a long day, but Sunday – with near constant light flurries and a cold wind – was very tough. Laura Suppa led the way with conference-qualifying mark in her first attempt ever at the heptathlon!
 
With the great maturity and focus that the team showed, along with the strong performances overall, what really stood out was the level of support that the team provided for each other over the course of the weekend, along with the family and friends that were able to make it. This is an area where we had something that stands out in contrast to nearly every other track and field program I can think of – we were fortunate enough to have the college president and first lady in attendance on Saturday and Sunday! It's a pretty amazing experience for the athletes and coaches to have 'normal' conversations with Dr. Bitterbaum and Mrs. Howard-Burton – who are genuinely huge fans of all that Cortland has to offer – on the infield, asking team members about their majors and their experience here, fist-bumping after races are over, and posing for photos. It's incredibly unique and special, and we thank them for their attendance, support and enthusiasm!