CHESTER, PA. and CLINTON, N.Y. – The Cortland women's outdoor track and field team opened its 2024 campaign with competitors at both the Widener University Danny Curran Invitational on Friday and Saturday and the Hamilton College Invitational on Saturday.
 
Widener Highlights:
 
Cortland posted seven AARTFC-qualifying performances at Widener, highlighted by a victory in the 4x100-meter relay from Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield), Alexia Prince (Spring Valley/Clement Howell), Avery Hebert (Stillwater) and Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) in 48.37 seconds. That time ranks 19th nationally in Division III as of Saturday evening.
 
Pittman finished second of 58 in the 100-meter dash (12.36) and third of 76 in the 200-meter dash in 25.57 seconds, both AARTFC marks. Devin Reilly (Irvington) was fourth of 22 in the 10,000-meter run with an AARTFC time of 40:09.02. Cortland's other three regional marks came in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion) won the race in 11:35.23, Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) was second in 11:39.99 and Anika Parnell (Corinth) finished fourth in 11:54.90.
 
Hebert was fourth of 42 in the 400-meter dash in 59.64 seconds. AnJalyna Talmadge (Pine Bush) finished fourth of 16 in the 100-meter hurdles (15.97) and 10th of 35 in the long jump (4.97 meters/16' 3.75"). Regan Kaiser (Queensbury/Glens Falls) finished fifth of 22 in the high jump and Reilly Quinn (Beekmantown) placed seventh, both clearing 1.47 meters (4' 9.75").
 
Sobczyk finished sixth in the 100-meter dash (12.72), Prince was sixth in the 200-meter dash (26.12) and Emma Trefzger (Horseheads) finished seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:27.78). Sydney Smith (Greenville) was 10th of 55 in the 1,500 meters (5:00.66), while Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) and Matty Lucey (Freeville/Groton) finished seventh (1:09.46) and ninth (1:10.16), respectively, in the 400-meter hurdles.

Hamilton Highlights:
 
Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) led Cortland at Hamilton with runner-up finishes - Fisk in the long jump (5.28 meters/17' 4") out of 18 competitors and Ndukwu in the hammer throw (43.88 meters/143' 11") in a field of 36 athletes.
 
Matteson Donnelly (Pearl River) finished fourth in the triple jump (10.07 meters/33' 0.5") and eighth in the long jump (4.74 meters/15' 6.75"). Deirdre Sullivan (Tappan/Tappan Zee) was third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:31.64). Hannah McMasters (Homer) and Suzy Conners (Cortlandt Manor/Walter Panas) placed fourth (42.69 meters/140' 0") and sixth (39.31 meters/128' 11"), respectively, in the hammer throw. Faith Hoyt (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) and Abigail Carberry (Sayville) each cleared 2.85 meters (9' 4.25") in the pole vault, with Hoyt officially fourth and Carberry fifth. Cherise Mack (Johnson City) was ninth of 23 in the 800 meters (2:39.95).

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

We're thankful to have the support to be able to send the team off to two different meets this weekend, as well as the cooperation of Mother Nature to make both pretty reasonable in both locations!

We had a number of highlights from both events, probably led by our hammer throwers and our 10k runners. Mitchell Makowski returned to competition for his final outdoor season with a near-PR, while firstyear Evan Collette enters our top-five list with a career opening throw over 50 meters! Fellow firstyear Cabe Hogue had a strong showing in the hammer to go along with our current team-leading throw in the discus. Jennifer Ndukwu led teammates Hannah McMasters (who had a nice PR) and Suzy Conners to a strong showing in the women's event as well.

In the 10k, we went 5 for 5 with personal records, which is obviously a great way to start the season. Extra credit should be given to Devin Reilly who essentially ran the race as a time trial, which obviously adds an additional challenge!

Our javelin throw went quite well at Widener; Doug Knapp and Tommy Martin opened the season with personal bests, and Ryan Joule just missed finals with the 3rd-best performance over his career. Outdoor track is always a bit strange, especially as you may be doing doing events (like the javelin) that you haven't been able to compete in since last year, and may have had limited opportunities to practice, so we're excited to have those early strong performances!

Speaking of events that are limited to the outdoor season and a challenge to practice for in the winter, the 400 hurdles group did quite well, as you saw strong openers from both the men (Aaron Jones, Austin Garske, and Brandon Root) and women (Yasmine Peralta and Matty Lucey) at Widener.

Our steeple people opened the season quite well for the most part with new PRs by Alexa Wolcott, Melissa Innocent, Anika Parnell, Aliesha Howard, and Matthew Mullen. Our remaining folks were all pretty close to their bests, so we feel pretty good about how that event group is progressing overall.

Jack Bisbee and Sydney Smith both had strong doubles in the mid-distance events, while Cameron Szabo and Hector Ramos both performed quite well in their 800s. AnJalyna Talmadge certainly had a strong day with her performances in the high hurdles and long jump; Matthew Schaffert had a strong double in the 100 and 200 (breaking both the 11-second and the 22-second barrier on the same day, which is quite fun).

To close out our highlights, I'll make mention of Alexia Prince who had a strong performance in the 100, an excellent 200, and ran a good second leg in the 4x100 relay with Kendall Sobczyk, Avery Hebert, and Autumn Pittman to post a stellar opening time. It's exciting to be running that fast this early.

We're looking forward to opening the home season this Saturday and Sunday with the Red Dragon Open.