CORTLAND, N.Y. – Three Cortland athletes moved into the top 20 in the NCAA Division III rankings in their events during the Cortland Classic women's track and field meet Friday and Saturday.
 
Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) won the high jump with height of 1.70 meters (5' 7") that, as of Saturday evening, is tied for third nationally and is first in the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC). Sam Becker (Narrowsburg/Sullivan West) finished second in the 400-meter hurdles, losing by less than two tenths of a second to a Division I athlete from Syracuse, in 1:03.42. That time ranks 12th nationally and fourth in the AARTFC.
 
Laura Suppa (Canastota) won the heptathlon with a score of 3,783 points that is 20th nationally and sixth in the AARTFC. Suppa met AARTFC standards in two of the seven events as well with a time of 15.35 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and a height of 1.59 meters (5' 2.5") in the high jump.
 
In all, Cortland registered nine AARTFC-qualifying performances at the meet. In addition to the five mentioned above, Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) posted two individual qualifying times with her second-place finishes in the 200-meter dash (25.94) and 100-meter dash (12.52). Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) won the 100-meter dash in an AARTFC time of 12.45 seconds, and the combination of Faith Nelson (Rensselaer/Columbia), Alyssa LaBelle (Poughquag/Arlington), Pittman and Hunter won the 4x100-meter relay in an AARTFC time of 49.99 seconds.
 
Cortland won three relays at the meet. Along with the 4x100, the Red Dragons were victorious in the 4x400-meter relay as Becker, Katherine McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee), Kat Burgess (West Hempstead) and Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Ctr. for Science and Math) posted a time of 4:10.09, and the 4x800-meter relay as Marlee Angus (Penfield), Kayla Pucci (Goshen), Savannah Adami (Guilderland) and Cat Zamroz (Levittown/Island Trees) won in 10:10.11.
 
Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) finished first out of 16 in the long jump at 5.12 meters (16' 9.75"), followed by Abby McDowell (Tappan/Tappan Zee) in second (5.07 meters/16' 7.75") and Fisk in fourth (5.00 meters/16' 5"). Kimmy Arena (West Islip) won the pole vault at 3.06 meters (10' 0'5") and Emma Trefzger (Horseheads) won the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:37.49).
 
Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River) was the runner-up in the triple jump at 10.13 meters (33' 3"). Pittman and LaBelle finished third (26.19) and fourth (26.62), respectively, in the 200-meter dash and Liriano was third in the 400-meter hurdles (1:07.66). (Katherine) McDowell and Mercy Aladegboungbe (Bay Shore) placed third (1:02.31) and fourth (1:03.61), respectively, in the 400-meter dash, Zamroz was third of 28 in the 800 meters (2:23.54), and both Becker (13.10) and (Abby) McDowell (13.20) qualified for the finals in the 100-meter dash but did not compete in that event Saturday.


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

The meet went great! The weather was cooperative, the team was supporting each other in a very positive fashion, and we had a number of performances that showcased our excellence and our depth. There's a lot to be proud of in terms of results over the weekend. It would be more time-efficient to list of the few places where we didn't excel as a program over the weekend than to name all that things that went well. We clearly had one of the better weekends in my time here as coach.
 
There's a bit more to be proud of on this weekend, however. This meet was also our 'senior recognition day,' so the chance to have 18 (!) members of the team recognized was certainly special; this year it was great to have a lot of family in attendance as well. With such a large program, we can lose sight of those things sometimes, so having a day like this is extra important!
 
We were fortunate to have a number of alumni in attendance as well, including a few that competed! We had over a dozen alumni in attendance over the weekend, including a few that were present in coaching roles. We have such a long legacy of producing coaches, so that is always great to see them return as collegiate coaches with their own programs.

But the highlight of the day may have been the competition for the Cortland Stars. We have a number of team members that have been involved in coaching Special Olympians as a part of the Cortland Stars program at the college, and today we had athletes participating in the softball toss (quick thanks to Cortland Softball for providing us with some implements to throw), the long jump, the 50 meter dash, and the 4 x 100 relay. It was fantastic to see these athletes return for the first time since 2019, and we are incredibly proud of our program for helping to support this opportunity, and especially those team members that work with the Cortland Stars on a regular basis.

We'll host a small tune-up meet on Tuesday to close our home season – fingers crossed that the good weather we enjoyed through the weekend sticks around!