UTICA, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track and field team finished third out of 16 teams at the Utica University Winter Opener. Cortland's 92 points trailed only Division II Felician (108) and Brockport (100). Utica (75) and Siena (62) completed the top five.
 
Three Red Dragons earned victories at the meet. Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) won the high jump at 1.57 meters (5' 1.75"), Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Center for Science and Math) won the 500 meters (1:21.74), and Becca Bready (Rochester/Gates Chili) was the top collegiate finisher (second overall) in the pole vault (3.05 meters/10' 0").
 
Cortland also notched three second-place finishes for the team scoring. Kimmy Arena (West Islip) finished second among collegiate finishers (and third overall) in the pole vault at 2.90 meters (9' 6.25"). The 4x200-meter relay team of Alyssa LaBelle (Poughquag/Arlington), Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield), Julia Ross (Sloatsburg/Suffern) and Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) placed second at 1:51.34 and the 4x400-meter relay quartet of Liriano, Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury), Marlee Angus (Penfield) and Avery Hebert (Stillwater) was second in 4:15.09. Faith Hoyt (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) placed third in the pole vault (fourth overall) at 2.75 meters (9' 0.25").
 
Cortland's scoring (top 8) performances at the meet were:    (* AARTFC qualifier)
 
Elizabeth Liriano
1st, 500 meters, 1:21.74
 
Danielle Fisk
1st, High Jump, 1.57 meters (5' 1.75")*
4th, Long Jump, 4.87 meters (15' 11.75")
 
Becca Bready
1st (2nd overall), Pole Vault, 3.05 meters (10' 0")
 
Alyssa LaBelle, Kendall Sobczyk, Julia Ross, Autumn Pittman, 2nd, 4x200-meter relay, 1:51.34
 
Elizabeth Liriano, Yasmine Peralta, Marlee Angus, Avery Hebert, 2nd, 4x400-meter relay, 4:15.09
 
Kimmy Arena
2nd (3rd overall), Pole Vault, 2.90 meters (9' 6.25")
 
Faith Hoyt
3rd (4th overall), Pole Vault, 2.75 meters (9' 0.25")
 
Autumn Pittman
4th, 200-meter dash, 27.46
 
Avery Hebert
4th, 500 meters, 1:25.39
 
Mariah Saggese (Oneonta/Milford)
tied 4th, High Jump, 1.47 meters (4' 9.75")
 
Sarah Parr (Cooperstown)
5th, Weight Throw, 14.16 meters (46' 5.5")
 
Marlee Angus
6th, 500 meters, 1:26.61
 
Alyssa LaBelle
6th, Long Jump, 4.81 meters (15' 9.5")
 
Megan Spencer (Somers)
7th, Weight Throw, 13.64 meters (44' 9")
 
Yasmine Peralta
8th, 500 meters, 1:28.04

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

The first meet back is usually pretty rough, especially since it has been over a month since we have competed. I'm absolutely thrilled with the attitude and the effort that the team brought today to Utica. Today's meet was focused on the process of how we are going to go about competing…right now the team is tired and definitely not ready for any peak performances. I do feel great about what we can achieve if we continue to have this type of work ethic and attitude!
 
I have an enviable problem as I write this of having way too many people to recognize for their strong efforts on the day, so I'll use the measure of having personal best performances to identify two men to highlight: first, senior Hagie Sesay jumped very nearly a lifetime best in the triple jump, after being away from the event since high school. That showed a lot about the work he has put in both at practice and on his own, and in particular how he has worked to return after a knee injury kept him from focusing on being a jumper for a lot of his college career. The second is firstyear Isaiah Brunache, who now owns the #3 all-time best performance at Cortland in the weight throw in what was only his third competition with college weight! Isaiah is remarkably focused and hard-working, so it's of course wonderful to see him have that level of success.
 
Having a personal best performance after some very hard training is difficult to do. We made the decision to work through this meet with the promise of more important competitions in the future. For the Lady Red Dragons, that is again the measuring stick to identify performers that really achieved this weekend. The first is sophomore Regan Kaiser, who had a three (!) PR day – in the indoor 200, in the high jump, and in the long jump. There was quite a bit of improvement for her since she has been back training this semester, and it was great to see it in the meet as well. The second individual I'd like to recognize is firstyear Hannah McMasters, who threw a lifetime best in the weight throw by nearly 3 feet – since the weight is the same for the women in college and high school, that was quite an improvement!
 
We don't have the lightest week of training planned, but that's OK as we have big goals for the future. We are excited for the short trip over to Ithaca College for a small meet this upcoming Saturday!