ITHACA, N.Y. and STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track and field team sent competitors to both a tri-meet hosted by Ithaca College and to the Big Apple Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Saturday.
 
Cortland finished second at the tri-meet; Division I Cornell won with 90 points, followed by Cortland with 34 and Ithaca with 27 in a 5-3-2-1 scoring system.
 
The Red Dragons posted two AARTFC qualifiers at the meet. Reilly Quinn (Beekmantown) was second in the high jump at 1.85 meters (5' 2.25") and Hannah McMasters (Homer) was third in the weight throw at 14.54 meters (47' 8.5"). Quinn also finished fourth in the triple jump at 10.36 meters (34' 0").
 
Deirdre Sullivan (Tappan/Tappan Zee) earned first-place points in the 3,000 meters (11:48.97), followed by Cherise Mack (Johnson City) (11:54.14), Jewel Jones (Long Beach) and Liv Balfe (Oriskany) (11:56.28). AnJalyna Talmadge (Pine Bush) placed second in the 60-meter hurdles (9.57) and fourth in the shot put (11.54 meters/37' 10.5") and Anika Parnell (Corinth) was second in the mile run (5:33.63).
 
Alexia Prince (Spring Valley/Clement Howell) finished third in the 60-meter dash (8.14) and Anne Barney (Oakland, NJ/Indian Hills) finished third in the mile (5:37.56). Red Dragon fourth-place finishers included Gianna Motto (East Islip) in the 60-meter dash (8.16), Kristin Ieva (North Babylon) in the mile (5:43.43), Abbie Gregory (Guilderland) in the 60-meter hurdles (10.17), Regan Kaiser (Queensbury/Glens Falls) in the high jump (1.43 meters/4' 8.25"), Faith Hoyt (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) in the pole vault (3.00 meters/9' 10")  and Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River) in the long jump (4.69 meters/15' 4.75").
 
Cortland recorded six AARTFC qualifying performances at the Big Apple Invitational. Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) hit two of those with her third-place finish out of 74 competitors in the 200-meter dash (25.37) and her fifth-place finish in the 60-meter dash (7.87, 7.82 prelims). Kendall Sobczyk also posted an AARTFC mark in the 60-meter dash, finishing fourth in 7.87 seconds with a prelim time of 7.83 seconds. Sobczyk also was 16th in the 200 meters (26.09).
 
Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) was 14th of 62 in the 3,000 meters in 10:27.16 and Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion) was 15th in 10:27.68, both AARTFC times. Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) finished sixth of 28 in the high jump at 1.64 meters (5' 4.5"), an AARTFC mark that matches her season best. Fisk also was 11th of 49 in the long jump at 5.29 meters (17' 4.25").
 
The 4x400-meter relay team of Maris Seabury (Old Chatham/Ichabod Crane), Matty Lucey (Freeville/Groton), Abby Hardy (Johnson City) and Izzie Bosko (Hillsdale/Taconic Hills) finished second in 4:10.06. Avery Hebert (Stillwater) and Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) placed seventh (59.79) and 13th (1:00.96), respectively, in the 400-meter dash.

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

First off, it's pretty amazing to think that we were at three different meets this weekend! There's a lot to be said for having the level of support from our administration that allows us to pursue meets that are the best fit for the various parts of the team. Not every meet or facility is ideal for the wide range of events in track and field, so to have that amount of flexibility is great for us.
 
Now, in terms of this weekend, once again we saw some tremendous throws over at Ithaca College, particularly in the weight throw as not only did Isaiah Brunache improve on his PR (narrowly missing the school-record), but Evan Collette has now entered the top-five list with his big throw as well. Although not making our top-five list, Hannah McMasters countered with a big PR of her own in the weight throw. In the jumps, men's high jump was particularly strong as all three men competed well, led by Logan Buchanan earning the win with a significant college PR.
 
The squad at Ithaca showed some tremendous improvement in the 60 as PRs were run more than half of our athletes, highlighted by a huge improvement from Alexia Prince! We also saw some very good individual efforts and team tactics in the mile and the 3000 for both teams.
 
The success in the 3000 was a theme that we also saw at the Big Apple Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Complex in Staten Island. The distance squad really produced in that race as all nine of our competitors ran lifetime bests over the event. Beyond that achievement, how they raced was pretty tremendous, as they were engaged in the race, making mature decisions, and racing tough when it counted. I'll also mention Autumn Pittman nearly earning another school record, as she is now the #2 performer All-Time in the 200, just .02 seconds behind Taylor Hunter's mark from 2019. I'll also highlight Andrew O'Gorman breaking the 50-second barrier for the first time in the 400 at Boston University as a pretty big highlight for the program over the weekend.
 
For the most part, the members of the team that competed this weekend – regardless of the location – did well. While we didn't always have as great of a result that we might have wanted, in the few places where we came up a bit short of what the 'ideal' was we were able to have a good learning experience from it. We didn't have many big mistakes or letdowns, and many members of the team needed to experience the higher level of competition that the meets at Boston University and Ocean Breeze offer so that we can take advantage of the championship opportunities that are coming up soon.
 
Next weekend will be a tune-up for some folks prior to the conference championships at Cornell. We're excited about how the season has been progressing!