CORTLAND, N.Y. – Morgan Sharer (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) won the javelin throw and eight other Red Dragons earned top-three finishes at Tuesday's Cortland CNY College Challenge women's outdoor track and field meet. The event included competitors from Cortland, Cornell, Ithaca, Oswego and Hartwick.
 
Sharer won the javelin with a toss of 26.97 meters (88' 6"). Liz Spencer (Somers) placed third at 26.17 meters (85' 10") and Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) was fourth at 25.49 meters (83' 7").
 
Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Ctr. for Science and Math) was the runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:06.31, which is an All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying time. Kat Burgess (West Hempstead) finished third in 1:11.85. Lauren Anderson (Saratoga Springs) finished second in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.05 seconds.
 
Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) finished third of 15 in the 100-meter dash in 12.78 seconds and fifth of 18 in the 200-meter dash in 27.03 seconds. Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) was third in the 200 meters (26.37) and fourth in the 100 meters (12.85).
 
Alyssa LaBelle (Poughquag/Arlington) turned in a third-place finish in the long jump (5.08 meters/16' 8") and Catie Lally (Binghamton/Chenango Forks) was third in the discus (35.04 meters/114' 11"). Sarah Parr (Cooperstown) was fourth in the shot put (10.63 meters/34' 10.5"), followed by Liz Spencer (Somers) in fifth (10.54 meters/34' 7"). Mercy Aladegboungbe (Bay Shore) placed fourth (1:04.54) and Bridget Welch (East Islip) was fifth (1:05.97) in the 400-meter dash.

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

Some years we get lucky in that this Tuesday meet is warm, sunny and fast. Other years we get what we got today – breezy, a moderate breeze, and some misting-type rain at times. It's a cold that settles into your bones a bit, which can make performing a bit of a challenge!
 
Of course, it's important that we are focused and tough no matter what the conditions are, and that we recognize that a meet like this still offers a valuable opportunity to compete, as well as the training benefit that can come from competing. And while we weren't all perfect, we certainly were able to get a lot of quality work in, which included some performances that were significant improvements on where we have been so far this season!
 
For the Lady Red Dragons on the track, Faith Nelson had a strong PR in the 100, Bridget Welch had the same in the 400, and Lauren Anderson turned in a career best in the 100 High Hurdles.  For the field, Alyssa LaBelle led the way in the jumps with a fantastic improvement in her long jump – an event she only started doing a few weeks ago – to most likely earn a spot at the conference meet. Our throws squad had a strong day overall, with PRs from Danielle Fisk in the javelin, Sarah Parr in the shot, and Catie Lally in both the shot and discus! It's great to see the group peaking at the right time as we are within two weeks of the conference meet.
 
The men's squad had some similar places were we achieved significant results on the day. For the throws, Doug Knapp hit a PR to qualify for the conference meet, while Alex Daniel had a big lifetime best in triple jump, as Brett Morse and Roland Zanger both had outdoor bests in the long jump. Morse joined with Evan Jensen, Coltrane Goring, and Aaron Jones to run as time in the 4x100 that is #4 all-time at Cortland; Jones ran a lifetime best of 14.60 in the high hurdles, which propelled him far up the national list! Rich Samuels became the fourth man on the squad to dip under the 50-second barrier with his PR in the 400, and then came back to pace the 800 through 500 meters, where teammate Hunter Braun had a nearly 1-second PR to jump well up the conference performance list.
 
In many other event groups for both the women and men, there was good effort, good focus, and a good level of being tough, which are all the things we want to see as we start to head into championship season. Up next, Ryan Cory gets the opportunity to race at the prestigious Penn Relays on Thursday night, and a large contingent heads to the Paul Kaiser Classic this Saturday at Shippensburg University.