CHESTER, PA. and CLINTON, N.Y. – The Cortland women's outdoor track and field team won three events and earned many other top finishes as the Red Dragons sent competitors to the Widener University Danny Curran Invitational on Friday and Saturday and the Hamilton College Invitational on Saturday.
 
Widener Highlights:
 
Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo), Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and Rachel Castello (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East) each posted victories at Widener. Pittman was first of 72 in the 100-meter dash in 12.47 seconds, Fisk was first of 27 in the high jump at 1.66 meters (5' 5.25") and Castello won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 12:01.79. All three efforts were All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers.
 
Pittman and Fisk also recorded AARTFC marks in other events. Pittman was third of 82 in the 200-meter dash (25.76) and Fisk was third of 46 in the long jump (5.40 meters/17' 8.75"). Cortland's other two AARTFC performances came in the 400-meter hurdles, where Elizabeth Liriano (New York/Manhattan Center for Science and Math) was fourth out of 30 competitors (1:04.88) and Sam Becker (Narrowsburg/Sullivan West) finished fifth (1:05.30).
 
AnJalyna Talmadge (Pine Bush) tied for third in the high jump (1.51 meters/4' 11.5") and Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield) was fifth in the 100-meter dash (12.84). Becca Bready (Rochester/Gates Chili) was third of 23 in the pole vault at 3.10 meters (10' 2"), while Kimmy Arena (West Islip) tied for fourth and Faith Hoyt (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) placed seventh, each clearing 2.80 meters (9' 2.25").
 
The combination of Sobczyk, Alyssa LaBelle (Poughquag/Arlington), Julia Ross (Sloatsburg/Suffern) and Pittman finished third in the 4x100-meter relay (50.02) and the foursome of Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury), Becker, Helena Trackey (Glens Falls) and Liriano finished third in the 4x400-meter relay (4:06.91). Avery Hebert (Stillwater) finished ninth of 67 in the 400-meter dash (1:00.79) and Khalifah Tracey (Greenville) was ninth of 37 in the 10,000 meters (41:00.46).
 
Hamilton Highlights:
 
Caitlin Maher (Hartsdale/Ardsley) was runner-up at Hamilton in both the long jump (4.60 meters/15' 1.25") and the triple jump (10.34 meters/33' 11.25"). Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River) placed fourth in the long jump (4.45 meters/14' 7.25") and sixth in the triple jump (9.75 meters/32' 0").
 
The Red Dragons earned five top-10 finishes in a field of 29 competitors in the hammer throw. Sarah Parr (Cooperstown) was third at 41.76 meters (137' 0"), Megan Spencer (Somers) finished fifth (39.84 meters/130' 8"), Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) was sixth (39.70 meters/130' 3"), Brianna Schermerhorn (Cairo/Cairo-Durham) placed ninth (33.37 meters/109' 5") and Hannah McMasters (Cortland/Homer) finished 10th (32.75 meters/107' 5"). Spencer finished eighth in the discus (31.01 meters/101' 9") and McMasters placed 10th in the shot put (9.52 meters/31' 2.75").
 
Ava Roper (Wallkill) finished third (17.43) and Abbie Gregory (Guilderland) was sixth (18.39) in the 100-meter hurdles. Three Red Dragons posted top-10 showings in the 1,500 meters – Savannah Adami (Guilderland) was fourth (5:10.70), Andie Rice (Louisville, KY/Kentucky Country Day) was eighth (5:17.99) and Anika Parnell (Corinth) finished ninth (5:18.94).

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

This was a pretty successful opening weekend for us – definitely one of the best I've had in my time here as a coach!
 
First, the fact that we are able to travel folks to two different meets to provide opportunities to compete is pretty great; the fact that we had cooperative weather in both locations is pretty special as well.
 
Both meets had some pretty outstanding opening results. From the Hamilton meet, firstyear Eddie Manente opened the season strong with good performances in the open 100 and 200, with both representing a big step forward from the indoor season. Fellow firstyear Gianna Motto had similar results in her 100 and 200, showing a big improvement as compared to the indoor season. Sophomore Savannah Adami opened her outdoor campaign with a PR in the 1500, which is certainly a great way to start the season!
 
For the field, we had a lot of good success especially in the throws at Hamilton, but the two highlights would have to be Erek Biddle – not only competing for the first time as a collegian, but for the first time in the event -  having a very long toss in the javelin, and fellow firstyear Jennifer Ndukwu translating her work in the weight throw indoors in a very big opening throw of the hammer. Jennifer's best throw indoors predicts about a 35 meter throw, so to almost crack the 40-meter barrier was a great way to start things off!
 
Widener was a great opportunity for most to compete, and a lot of folks took advantage of it. While we weren't perfect in our execution, that's OK as we seem to be recognizing where we made mistakes and how to improve for the future.
 
On Friday night, our women's 10k group (Khalifah Tracey, Devin Reilly, Adrienne Martin, Vanessa Burkard, and Deirdre Sullivan) was pretty exceptional in their effort, and in their teamwork. They did a fantastic job of working together to put down some excellent times! RJ Davis and Adam Schreiber (who took the win in his heat) also performed quite well in the longest race of the weekend.
 
It's hard to limit my comments to who did well at Widener on Saturday, since nearly everybody did quite well! For the Lady Red Dragons, highlights would have to be the ladies in the 400 (Avery Hebert, Maris Seabury, and Faith Nelson), the ladies in the 400 hurdles (Elizabeth Liriano, Sam Becker, Yasmine Peralta, and Helena Trackey), Kristin Ieva and Sydney Smith doubling in the 1500 and the 800 quite well, and the women's 4x100 running to a quite fast opener (Kendall Sobczyk, Alyssa LaBelle, Julia Ross, and Autumn Pittman).
 
For the men, Zach Nyhart winning 'the rock' is a special honor, especially given that Dan Curran was officiating the event, and his son Danny was a pole vaulter at Widener. While the event winners obviously did great work, some folks that had strong performances that didn't show up with a win would include Hagie Sesay (especially in the long jump), Matthew Schaffert (especially in the 100), Muiz Bayewu breaking 2 minutes in the 800 in his debut for the race, the mid-distance men in the 1500 and 800 double (Cameron Szabo, Harry Tomasi, and Clayton Santiago), Matthew Mullen breaking the 10-minute barrier in the steeplechase, and the men's 4x4 group, which really put together a pretty exceptional day. I intentionally mixed up our relays to try and get a better understanding of where we are, but was really impressed at how fast the three relays ran. Of particular note out of that group are Aaron Jones, who not only had a 110HH race, but also his first 400 hurdle race in almost 7 years, and a stellar lead-off leg for one of the relays closing in on the 49-second barrier; Austin Garske, who opened the season with a great 400 hurdle race and nearly broke the 49-second barrier in his anchor leg for a relay, and firstyear Aidan Aguirre, who not only ran a great 3rd leg on his relay but also won his heat in a SUNAYC-qualifying time in his first-ever attempt at the 400 hurdles!
 
Finally – and unfortunately – our javelin throwers on the men's side had to deal with their event being cancelled after their first throws due to lightning and darkness. It was the right decision, but incredibly frustrating for both Ryan Joule and Tommy Martin to have made the trip, to barely get to compete. It's certainly a frustrating experience! Thankfully, we were able to get them into a chance to compete Sunday, and Tyler Hochadel (our throws coach) was able to take them. I greatly appreciate how they handled the setback and am happy that they got to compete again and that Ryan was able to improve on his season's best.