CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland women's track and field team sent competitors to the Bucknell University Bison Outdoor Classic on Saturday and Sunday as well as hosting the Cortland Upstate Alternative Meet on Saturday.
 
Bucknell Highlights:
 
Cortland recorded nine AARTFC qualifying performances at Bucknell, including two each from Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo).
 
Fisk finished fifth of 40 in the high jump at 1.67 meters (5' 5.75") and 12th of 61 in the 100-meter hurdles (14.73). In the high jump she was one of six athletes from the second through seventh spots to clear 1.67 meters; she officially finished fifth since she cleared the height on her first attempt but the previous height on her second try. Fisk ranks 10th nationally in Division III in the high jump as of Sunday evening.
 
Pittman placed ninth of 88 in the 100-meter dash (12.09) and 10th of 121 in the 200-meter dash (25.04). Her 200-meter time ranks 25th nationally.
 
Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion), Anika Parnell (Corinth) and Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) all earned AARTFC times in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Wolcott finished 24th in 11:40.00, Parnell was 26th in 11:41.31 and Innocent placed 28th in 11:45.54. Cortland's other AARTFC efforts came from Avery Hebert (Stillwater) in the 400-meter dash (38th place of 93 in 58.92 seconds) and Devin Reilly (Irvington) in the 5,000-meter run (37th of 68 in 18:28.83).
 
Cortland Alternative Highlights:
 
The competitors at Cortland battled brutal weather conditions with heavy rain and wind. A number of Red Dragons earned top-three finishes at the meet, led by runner-up showings from Anne Barney (Oakland, NJ/Indian Hills) in the 800 meters (2:36.02) and Deirdre Sullivan (Tappan/Tappan Zee) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:04.01). Regan Kaiser (Queensbury/Glens Falls) and Reilly Quinn (Beekmantown) were among a three-way tie for the top spot in the high jump at 1.50 meters (4' 11"). Kaiser officially finished second and Quinn was third due to number of misses.
 
Hannah McMasters (Homer) finished third in both the discus (33.24 meters/109' 1") and the hammer (44.81 meters/147' 0"). Andie Rice (Louisville, KY/Kentucky Country Day) placed third in the 800 meters (2:36.80), Faith Nelson (Rensselaer/Columbia) was third in the 400 meters (1:04.69) and Adrienne Martin (Cincinnatus/Norwich) finished third in the 1,500 meters (5:25.79).

Coach's Corner - Comments from Cortland Head Coach Steve Patrick:
 
On the Cortland Upstate Alternative Meet:
 
It was a real weather-related challenge for anybody that competed in Cortland. It may have been the worst weather for a track and field meet that Cortland was involved in over the past 30 years. Our outdoor season is so short that we hate to miss on competitive opportunities; I really appreciate the folks that were able to fight through the challenge to stay competitive. The meet at home wasn't a great opportunity to run our fastest, jump our furthest, or throw our farthest, but the value in practicing focus, how we execute our skills, and just being tough has so much value! So many on the team did just that today, so we have a lot to be proud of!
 
Out of the folks that were competing in Cortland, I'd like to highlight Nick Kaires not only for his win in the discus, but also for breaking the 50-meter barrier in the hammer throw for the first time ever. I'll also point out what a big PR Suzy Conners had in the hammer throw. For both Nick and Suzy to PR under those conditions shows the level they were competing at today!
 
Deirdre Sullivan had a huge PR in the steeplechase today, which just sounds like the absolute worst event to do on a day like today. Aliesha Howard and Josh Koeppe also put forward impressive efforts in the event.
 
I'll close by mentioning how Roland Zanger had a very impressive long jump for the cold/rainy/snowy/windy conditions. There's a lot of confidence to be gained from having a strong showing in less-than-ideal conditions, and these folks (and more) really fought to do something pretty special.
 
On the Bucknell Meet:
 
Unfortunately we didn't quite get the weather we were hoping for on Saturday. The temperature was pretty great for racing, but the wind was pretty brutal and kept the races from really being hot. We certainly had some good efforts, most notably from Anika Parnell, who had a big PR in the steeplechase and won her heat, which is always a really fun thing to do. A wise coach once told me that you "should never underestimate the value of winning" and we're quite thrilled with Anika earning that victory today!
 
The second highlight from day one of Bucknell would be Ryan Joule who had two really good throws into a gnarly headwind today. He's been putting in a lot of effort to improve some specific aspects of his technique and it is really paying off!
 
The final highlight was Danielle Fisk in the high jump, who endured a competition that featured 40 women, and lasted nearly three hours. That's pretty unusual circumstances! Danielle jumped great and was able to make some good adjustments to both the length of the competition and the wind.
 
Until the thunderstorms rolled in on Sunday night cancelling the 4x400 relays, things were rolling along quite well for us. In general, Sunday was a day of learning, as we had minimal 'poor' performances and a number of really good efforts.

Cameron Szabo started us off with a really nice 800 on the track, where he made a number of good decisions during the race. He ran fast today but set himself up better to run even faster in the future! Avery Hebert put together a wonderful 400, with again leaving room to improve in the future. It was also a big step forward! Brandon Levin had a stellar day with another big PR in the 100, as well as a strong PR in the 200. That's an exciting step to see a firstyear running so well.
 
Sophomore Yasmine Peralta executed her 400 hurdles quite well except for one pesky hurdle, but as with many of our others that created a great learning opportunity for the future. Our triple jump squad of Mitch Diamond, Cam Buchanan, and Amarian Hughes all made their way to season's bests while doing a great job of adjusting and learning from jump to jump. Finally, Danielle Fisk had a big PR in the hurdles, which sets her up nicely for the heptathlon this upcoming weekend.
 
We're looking forward to hosting the Cortland Classic on the 19th and 20th, which will be a pretty sizable meet and a great chance to continue to develop the team.