STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. and UTICA, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track and field team sent competitors to both the Big Apple Invitational in Staten Island and the Utica University Blue & Orange Invitational on Saturday.
 
Big Apple Invitational Highlights:
 
Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) finished fourth of 56 runners, and was the second Division III finisher, in the 200-meter dash (25.45) and placed sixth of 54, and was the top Division III finisher, in the 60-meter dash (7.88, 7.84 prelims), both with All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks. Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield) also hit an AARTFC mark with her 13th-place time of 8.02 seconds in the 60-meter dash.
 
Matty Lucey (Freeville/Groton) finished eighth of 29 in the 400-meter dash (1:01.48). Four Red Dragons placed in the top 11 of the 3,000 meters - Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion) in eighth place (10:44.83), Julia Benton (Addison) in ninth (10:44.97), Anne Barney (Oakland, NJ/Indian Hills) in 10th (10:45.61) and Deirdre Sullivan (Tappan/Tappan Zee) in 11th (10:46.36).
 
In addition, Kelly Newman (Harrison) finished ninth of 35 in the 800 meters (2:25.71), and Alexia Prince (Spring Valley/Clement Howell) was 20th in the 200-meter dash (26.54) and 22nd in the 60-meter dash (8.18).
 
Utica Blue & Orange Invitational Highlights:
 
Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) and Lillian Swyers (Peru) each posted AARTFC marks at Utica. Ndukwu was third of 55 in the weight throw at 16.10 meters (52' 10") and Swyers finished sixth of 50 in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.49 seconds.
 
AnJalyna Talmadge (Pine Bush) tied for fifth place of 28 in the high jump at 1.50 meters (4' 11") and was 12th in the 60-meter hurdles (9.78). Reilly Quinn (Morrisonville/Beekmantown) also cleared 1.50 meters (4' 11') in the high jump and officially finished eighth.
 
Hannah McMasters (Homer) finished eighth of 51 in the shot put (11.74 meters/38' 6.25") and was 10th in the weight throw (14.18 meters/46' 6.25"). Kayla Tretola (Levittown/Island Trees) placed 12th (13.84 meters/45' 5"). Swyers finished 10th in the triple jump (10.44 meters/34' 3") and Ryan Stark (Schuylerville) was 12th in the pole vault (2.87 meters/9' 5").
 
Cheyenne McPeek (Johnson City) finished 15th (11.14 meters/36' 6.75") and Tretola finished 16th (11.13 meters/36' 6.25") in the shot put. Abby Hardy (Johnson City) was 18th in the 400-meter dash (1:04.91) and Gabby Collins (East Northport/Elwood-John Glenn) finished 20th in the 60-meter hurdles (10.04). In the mile run, Kristin Ieva (North Babylon) was 25th of 68 in 5:39.76 and Bri Ostheller (Penfield) finished 27th (5:43.24).

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

Thoughts about the Fastrack National Meet from Friday, 2/7:
 
It was a long trip down and back to Staten Island, but it was worth it! Obviously the new school record by Evan is great to see, but otherwise it was a lot of learning about how to put all the pieces together when competing, especially in a bigger meet, in a bigger venue, where there is a little bit more pressure.
 
It can be tough, because this group holds themselves to very high standards, but I'm confident that the work done at this meet was worth it and will show up in the future: all four guys learned something tangible about racing, especially on a big stage, and that will pay off in the future.
 
Thoughts about the Big Apple Invitational from Saturday, 2/8:
 
The theme of competing under more stressful circumstances showed up again today at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex – but that's exactly why we wanted to go down there! Some important highlights from the sprints group are Matty Lucey having a great day with season's best in both the 400 and 200, a great drop in time over 200 meters from Autumn Pittman, and Yasmine Peralta having season's best in both the 60 and 200. From the distance side, Matthew Mullen's victory in the mile is pretty impressive not just because it was a new PR, but also because the value of winning isn't something that should be underestimated. Hector Ramos dropped a nice time in the 800 – after running a solid mile, which is always great to see. Sammie Salisbury took a huge chunk of time off of her mile PR, and our women's group in the 3k – especially the 'four horsewomen' of Alexa Wolcott, Julia Benton, Anne Barney, and Deirdre Sullivan posted great times, 3 of which were lifetime bests by a big margin! That group showed great efforts in working together and staying focused.
 
Thoughts about the Utica Blue & Orange Invite from Saturday, 2/8:
 
Continuing on the theme of having successful efforts from our distance squad, we started out with great teamwork and great toughness from Rowan Leddy and Jade Hornick in the 5k. They had to show some real patience and belief in themselves as the entire field started a bit quicker than was probably necessary for most. They ran the first 1000 meters not only in last place, but far off the field – only to steadily move up through the middle and end of the race, resulting in pretty significant PRs for both! At the close of the day Paul 'Paulie T' Tommolino had a very similar result in his heat, only he was by himself! Paul ran his final 1000 in 3:0, which is quite fast, and pretty remarkable considering how much he had to run as a solo time trials. Bri Ostheller stepped down in distance to the mile and ran a very smart and tough race to post a big PR today.
 
Five of our high hurdlers (Lillian Swyers, Gabby Collins, Eilise Marino, Hannah Nolan, and Christian Hunter) ran season bests today, which is quite exciting! While he didn't run a season best, Roland Zanger had a great double with his run in the high hurdles and a great day in the long jump. Amarian Hughes continued to impress with a great series for the long jump, and Deontae Bennett doubled with a season's best in long jump and a new PR in the 60! Our women's triple jump squad gained some nice depth as newcomers Grace Reed and Marino both posted marks that should lead to SUNYAC Championships qualifying in their first collegiate competition in the event!
 
Andrew Farnsworth posted a nice PR in the high jump, while all three of our men's pole vaulters (Matthew Breslin, Joffre Proano, and Vegas Petersen) posted season's bests during competition today. In the throws it was great to see that after lifetime bests last week both Jennifer Ndukwu and Isaiah Brunache came back with very strong performances in the weight throw and shot put respectively – that is quite a challenge after doing the best you have ever done, so it's a good credit to both of them for performing that well.
 
A small group will travel to Boston to run at the Valentine's Invitational at Boston University on Friday; the bulk of the team will be competing at Cornell on Saturday.