ITHACA, N.Y. and UTICA, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track and field team opened its 2025-26 season by sending competitors to both the Cornell University Greg Page Relays Friday and Saturday and to the Utica Holiday Classic on Saturday.
 
Cornell Highlights:
 
Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) won the 3,000 meters in a field of 23 competitors with a time of 10:10.40 that ranks 15th nationally in Division III as of Sunday evening. Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion) finished fifth (10:41.03), Jewel Jones (Long Beach) was sixth (10:41.20) and Phoebe Peer (Saranac Lake) finished seventh (10:41.69).
 
Reilly Quinn (Morrisonville/Beekmantown) finished fifth of 13 in the high jump. Her height of 1.60 meters (5' 3") is currently 17th nationally. Quinn also placed ninth of 20 in the long jump at 5.15 meters (16' 10.75"). Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield) finished 17th of 38 in the 60-meter dash in 7.96 seconds, and Katie Ball (Smithtown/Smithtown East) finished ninth in the pentathlon with 2,534 points.
 
Cortland athletes who met All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks at Cornell were Innocent (3,000 meters), Quinn (high jump), Ball (pentathlon) and Sobczyk (60-meter dash).
 
Utica Highlights:
 
Cortland posted three victories during the meet at Utica. Hannah McMasters (Homer) won the weight throw at 15.46 meters (50' 8.75"). She beat out 46 other competitors in the event and ranks 16th nationally in Division III as of Sunday night. Annabelle Schuck (Saratoga Springs) finished first of 29 in the long jump at 5.36 meters (17' 7"), and Abby Hardy (Johnson City) was first of 14 in the 400-meter dash (1:01.80).
 
In addition to McMasters' win in the weight throw, Cheyenne McPeek (Johnson City) placed fourth (14.54 meters/47' 8.5"), Kayla Tretola (Levittown/Island Trees) was eighth (13.74 meters/45' 1") and Molly McMasters (Johnson City) finished 11th (12.54 meters/41' 1.75"). Schuck was followed in the long jump by Lillian Swyers (Peru) in second place (5.31 meters/17' 5.25") and Gabriella Raymond (Sayville) in ninth place (5.16 meters/16' 11.25").
 
Hardy was one of five Cortland sprinters to place in the top half of the field in the 400-meter dash. Dahiana Martinez (Bronx/Bronx School of Law, Govt. & Justice) finished third (1:04.30), Sophia Hotaling (Cooperstown) was fifth (1:04.57), Anna Miller (Cornwall-on-Hudson/Cornwall) placed sixth (1:04.93) and Ava Negrino (Malverne/Kellenberg Memorial) was seventh (1:05.87).
 
Swyers led Cortland in the triple jump with a third-place distance of 10.94 meters (35' 10.75"). Schuck finished fourth (10.62 meters/34' 10.25") and Raymond was fifth (10.61 meters/34' 9.75"). Swyers also finished fifth of 39 in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.47 seconds.
 
Faith Hoyt (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) was third of 10 in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.12 meters (10' 2.75"). In the 200-meter dash, Hotaling finished fifth of 49 in 26.99 seconds and Martinez was ninth in 27.44 seconds, and in the shot put Tretola was sixth of 51 competitors at 11.52 meters (37' 9.5"), with (Hannah) McMasters 10th (10.44 meters/34' 3") and Colleen Patrie (Syracuse/Westhill) tied for 11th (10.43 meters/34' 2.75").
 
Cortland athletes who met All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks at Utica were Swyers (long jump, triple jump, 60-meter hurdles), McMasters (weight throw) and Schuck (long jump).

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

It was a pretty crazy weekend for us with nearly the whole squad in action across two different meets! We're fortunate to have the support to be both relatively local (at Cornell) and to make the trip to Utica, as each meet/facility has different advantages for different events. Choosing one meet would be less than ideal for a good chunk of the squad, so having that flexibility is great for us!
 
Across all the event groups, we had a pretty good weekend. Not everything worked out exactly as we had hoped for, but very little went poorly. For the speed and power athletes, this is the culmination of practices over the past 11 weeks, something that is pretty new to most of our new folks. We had so many instances where the first effort/event wasn't as strong as we had hoped for, but the rebound for the second event when there were a few less nerves was pretty significant!
 
In most places the process of how we competed was pretty positive! There was room for improvement but often that was linked to the first effort of the year, and not entirely being used to what competition looks like.
 
In looking at the various event groups, a few different things stand out to make note of in alphabetical order:
 
Distance: There were some exceptional opening efforts for the season, which can be really challenging after long cross country season – both emotionally and because of the faster turnover needed to run well. At Utica both Vinny Smaldone and Hunter Rautenstrauch ran a very well-executed race, and closed very well over the final 1000. At Cornell, Melissa Innocent led a great effort in the 3k squad, running a huge new PR; teammates Alexa Wolcott, Jewel Jones, and Phoebe Peer all came through with excellent performances as well – all four ladies had a phenomenal closing 1000 as well. In the men's 3k, Carter Naginey did fantastic work setting the pace for the first 2k; Kyle Friedel closed the race well to set a new PR in the race. Zach Arria – in what was probably the longest track race of his career – had a solid effort in the new distance, including a good strong finish. Before this section gets too long, I'll also make note of the good work done today by Cassidy Wendt in the 3000, Kelly Newman in the mile, and literal newcomer to the event group Hannah Strom in the 500.
 
Jumps: The jumps squad got a lot of quality work in today! We saw a number of strong performances today at both meets. For the high jump, having all five athletes clear a bar is a solid starting point, especially considering that two (Georgia Spuches Jwaskiewicz and Kam Martinichio) are both competing in their first college meet. With Taiog Cypher being a centimeter under his best, and Reilly Quinn tying hers, that group certainly started off strong! In the horizontal jumps, we had a good problem with the number of folks that made finals for both long jump and triple jump, in that we ran into some flat tired legs by the end of the meet. Having five women (Annabelle Schuck, Lily Swyers, Gabby Raymond, Reilly Quinn, and Grace Reed) over 5 meters in the long jump is a great start of the season; the biggest breakthrough on the men's side is between LeBron Richardson with a big PR, Brady Melious with an even bigger PR, and Manuel Sepulveda not quite achieving a PR but having a very strong series over 7 meters on 3 out of his 6 attempts. The pole vault squad had a very nice day overall, especially considering that two of the men (Andrew Klammer and Wyatt Fifield) were firstyear athletes in their first college meet. That's a lot of pressure! Decathlete John Anderson hit a new PR while in the middle of hurdling (where he also got a PR) and long jumping; senior Faith Hoyt, in her first competition since knee surgery in March, opened her comeback tour with her third highest clearance ever!
 
Sprints and Hurdles: There was a lot to be excited about across this event group! All three returning men in the 60HH (Travis Iwaugwu, Evan Cruz, and John Anderson) opened up the year with new personal bests. That's quite an achievement! For the Lady Red Dragons, Kendall Sobcyzk led the way with a well-executed race in the 60, Sophia Hotaling, Dahiana Martinez, Anna Miller, and Ava Negrino came back with great runs in the 200 after earlier racing the 400, while Abby Hardy threw done a big new indoor PR (with a bigger margin of victory) in the 400. For the men's squad, opening with 4 men under 51 seconds (led by newcomer Kyler Alston) in the 400, a huge lifetime PR for Christian Kahrs in the 200, and a strong contingent of Marcello Mastrocco, LeBron Richardson, and Lassad Richards all breaking the 7-second barrier in the 60 is quite an achievement. I'd like to make note of Daniel Cruz and Lassad for what happened in the 200, as both were impeded during the race by an elderly gentleman who got confused and wandered onto the track. Daniel had to slow down and lost his rhythm, while Lassad spun out like it was a NASCAR event and literally hit the wall rather than plowing over the guy. It's too their great credit that both of our men handled this in the best way possible – nobody would have blamed them for being upset and yelling at the guy, and both handled it with a tremendous amount of class! Lassad even chose to re-run the race about 5 minutes later! It's easy to be impressed by how Lassad and Daniel chose to respond to this setback!
 
The Throws: There was a lot going on with this group over the weekend! Besides the victory she earned in the weight throw at Utica, Hannah McMasters's mark is not only a new PR, but also moves her into 4th place on the all-time list at Cortland! Some big results that might go relatively unnoticed from the women's weight throw would be that firstyear Grace Boland opened her career with a very strong throw  - nearly reaching 11 meters – and that senior Jess Neubert had a PR over well over a meter in the weight throw to go along with a PR of well over a meter in shot put! For the men,  Sean Keane had a strong day in weight as well, with a nearly 1 meter PR; sophomore Jason Zaita had a nearly 2 meter PR in the event as well! The biggest mover on the day, however (pun mostly intended) has to be Elliott Supley, who not only had a great weight throw, but moved into third place on the all-time list in shot put with his winning throw!
 
Up next is finals and some well-deserved rest from training; the first Red Dragons will be back on January 3rd to get back to work!