CORTLAND, N.Y. - Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) broke her own school FAT-timed record in the 100-meter dash and anchored the winning 4x100-meter relay team that broke its own school record at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championships. Cortland hosted the meet Wednesday and Thursday.
 
Cortland finished in seventh place out of 58 schools in the final team standings with 37 points. Geneseo won the title with 81 points, followed by Rochester with 59 and Rowan with 54.
 
Pittman posted a time of 11.95 seconds in the 100-meter dash opening round, improving on her FAT school-record time of 11.96 seconds set in early April. Pittman won in the finals in 12.03 seconds. Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield), Alexia Prince (Spring Valley/Clement Howell), Faith Nelson (Rensselaer/Columbia) and Pittman won the 4x100-meter relay in 47.42 seconds, eclipsing their previous school record of 47.51 seconds set two weeks ago at the SUNYAC Championships. Pittman also finished third in the 200-meter dash in 24.88 seconds.
 
AnJalyna Talmadge (Pine Bush) finished second in the heptathlon with 4,080 points. She scored 719 points in the 100-meter hurdles (15.96), 689 points in the high jump (1.56 meters/5' 1.25") and 629 points in the shot put (11.52 meters/37' 9.5"). Danielle Fisk (Honoeye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) posted a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (14.59).
 
The top eight individual finishers and the top three relays earned All-AARTFC honors.
 
Cortland awaits the announcement of qualifiers for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, which be held at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C., from May 23-25. The final participant list will be posted on NCAA.com on Friday, May 17 at 8 p.m. Eastern. The top 22 declared individuals in each event and the top 16 declared relay teams in each relay (4x100 and 4x400) qualify for nationals.

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

This was quite a long couple of days – hosting 61 men's and 58 women's team is no small undertaking; our thanks to the Cortland Regional Sports Council in addition to our administration, athletic training, stadium complex, and grounds crew for all of the work and assistance. It was great to have such a high level of competition in Cortland and also pretty fantastic to have that kind of impact on the community by bringing so many visitors into the community on a couple of weekdays after graduation.
 
Finishing the championships with two new school records is something that we are certainly excited about, so congratulations to Mitch and the women's 4x100 relay of Kendall Sobczyk, Alexia Prince, Faith Nelson, and Autumn Pittman. Autumn certainly put together a stellar meet with an individual victory in the 100 (after a new PR in the trials) along with a new PR for the bronze medal in the 200 (along with the #2 all-time spot at Cortland).
 
It was great to see our year close out with PRs for the women's 4x400 of Maris Seabury, Matty Lucey, Yasmine Peralta, and Avery Hebert, AnJalyna Talmadge in the heptathlon, Alexa Wolcott in the steeplechase, and Devin Reilly in the 5k. Devin's race was an exceptional effort that was just a lot of fun to be associated with!
 
On the men's side along with Mitch's hammer throw, Isaiah Brunache had a tremendous PR in the discus that has moved him up to the #2 spot all-time at Cortland, while Nick LaRocque closed out his career with nearly a three-foot personal best to score at the regional meet. It was also great to have Doug Knapp PR in the 400 and Zion Cheatham break into the 48-second range with a big PR in a what we were using as a tune-up for the upcoming NCAA Championships for our 4x400 relay. And last but certainly not least Amarian Hughes earning the AARTFC Championship in the triple jump while hitting a big jump within his first three attempts is not only a great accomplishment, but also great preparation for next week's NCAA Championship.
 
We're anxiously waiting for the final meet results to post across the country tonight to see who is 'safe' for the NCAA Championships, and then we will have an additional waiting period tomorrow to see which of our entries are accepted. Fingers crossed!