UTICA, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track and field team finished second out of 13 schools at the Utica University Holiday Classic.
 
The host Pioneers won the team title with 175 points, followed by Cortland with 133. Daemen (71) and Oneonta (62.66) took third and fourth place.
 
Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) won the pentathlon with a score of 3,376 points that currently ranks second nationally in Division III. She won all five events, including All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying performances in the high jump (1.64 meters/5' 4.5"), long jump (5.32 meters/17' 5.5") and 60-meter hurdles (9.25). Her high jump ranks ninth nationally. Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield) won the 60-meter dash with an AARTFC-time of 7.83 seconds, which ranks 22nd nationally, and Faith Hoyt (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) won the pole vault at 2.85 meters (9' 4.25"). Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion) was the top collegiate finisher in the 5,000 meters with an AARTFC time of 18:49.13.
 
Two other Red Dragons reached AARTFC marks with their runner-up finishes. Regan Kaiser (Queensbury/Glens Falls) was second in the high jump at 1.57 meters (5' 1.75"); her height actually tied for first, but she was officially second due to total number of misses. Avery Hebert (Stillwater) was second in the 400-meter dash (59.82).
 
Cortland's other scorers at the meet included:
 
Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) - 3rd place (2nd collegiate), 5,000 meters, 18:50.38
Reilly Quinn (Beekmantown) - 3rd place, High Jump, 1.52 meters (4' 11.75")
 
Adrienne Martin (Cincinnatus/Norwich) - 4th place (3rd collegiate), 5,000 meters, 18:51.70
Hannah McMasters (Homer) - 4th place (3rd collegiate), Weight Throw, 13.82 meters (45' 4.25")
Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) - 4th place, 400-meter dash, 1:01.66
Anika Parnell (Corinth) - 4th place, Mile, 5:35.96
Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) - 4th place, Shot Put, 11.30 meters (37' 1")
 
Hebert, 5th place, 200-meter dash, 26.87
Maris Seabury (Old Chatham/Ichabod Crane), 5th place, 400-meter dash, 1:02.55
Abigail Carberry (Sayville), 5th place, Pole Vault, 2.55 meters (8' 4.25")
 
Ndukwu, 6th place (5th collegiate), Weight Throw, 13.68 meters (44' 10.75")
Parnell, 6th place, 800 meters, 2:37.31
Abbie Gregory (Guilderland), 6th place, 60-meter hurdles, 10.34
Quinn, 6th place, Triple Jump, 10.22 meters (33' 6.5")
 
Sydney Smith (Greenville), 7th place (6th collegiate), 5,000 meters, 19:26.37
Izzie Bosko (Hillsdale/Taconic Hills), 7th place, 400-meter dash, 1:03.33
Kaleigh Boismenu (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse), 7th place, Pole Vault, 2.40 meters (7' 10.5")
 
Suzy Conners (Cortlandt Manor/Walter Panas), 8th place (7th collegiate), Weight Throw, 13.09 meters (42' 11.5")
Peralta, 8th place, 200-meter dash, 27.19
Reilly, 9th place (8th collegiate), 5,000 meters, 19:32.63

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

So many great things that happened over this weekend!
 
Of course the team finishes are definitely worth being proud of. We don't determine our entries with the goal of winning this meet, but a wise coach once told me to 'never underestimate the value of winning.' So besides the number of individual victories that we had today, the team title for the men AND the runner-up finish by the women's squad is certainly a result that we were happy to see.
 
For the women's team, it's worth noting that Kendall Sobczyk's 60 and Danielle Fisk's pentathlon were both the second-best all-time performances at Cortland, which is really exciting to see this early in the season – especially for Danielle's first collegiate combined-event. Having our top three (Hannah McMasters, Jennifer Nduwkwu, and Suzy Conners) competing in the finals of the weight throw was great, especially as all three threw PRs. Our high jump squad put together a great meet as not only Danielle jumped well during the pentathlon, but also Regan Kaiser and Reilly Quinn hitting big marks was great! Avery Hebert led a strong squad in the long sprints with lifetime bests in the 200 and 400; since the outdoor track is typically faster, those both represent big breakthroughs for her! Finally, our women's 5k team rolled us to a great start on the day with a 1-2-3 finish amongst collegians by Alexa Wolcott, Melissa Innocent, and Adrienne Martin all running well under the 19-minute mark, and eclipsing our best time from last year.
 
For the men's team,  I'd like to commend Sam Hotaling and Tim Kayran for putting in a long two days of work in the heptathlon – that's a lot to get through in your second collegiate meet, and both performed quite well. Cam Szabo deserves special mention for how dominant both of his wins were today – in the mile he was in front 400 meters into the race, and was in control 200 meters into the 800. For the triple jump, this meet was the first time we competed this year, and we limited our approach to only 5 steps, so the distances put up by Amarian Hughes, Mitch Diamond, and Hayden Erick were quite impressive! We're also quite happy with where things went in long jump, especially with Deontae Bennett, Amarian, and Matt Schaffert all over 6.65 (which is 21' 10"). It's pretty fun that we were able to win all four jumping events today between Deontae (LJ), Amarian (TJ), Logan Buchanan (HJ), and Rich Mangogna (PV). It would be remiss to not mention that Brett Morse has moved up to a tie for second on our All-Time list in the 60 High Hurdles with his PR today. I also don't want to fail to mention that our highest 'scoring' group on the day – amassing 26 points – is our 5k group led by the top collegian in the race Robby Davidson, Brandon Mulholland, Adam Schreiber, Matt Mullen, and Paul Tommolino, all of whom ran big indoor or lifetime bests in the event.
 
We have a block of time to first focus on finals, and then on some fundamentals and foundational training before returning to practices in January. The coaching staff is pretty thrilled with how the fall has gone, and are looking forward to taking the next step forward!