CHESTER, PA. – Cheyenne McPeek (Johnson City) set a school record with her winning distance in the hammer throw as the Cortland women's track and field team opened its 2025 outdoor season at the Widener University Danny Curran Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
 
McPeek finished first out of 32 competitors in the hammer at 50.48 meters (165' 7"). The distance ranks 10th nationally in Division III this spring and breaks the school record of 50.04 meters set by current teammate Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) last year.
 
McPeek also finished fifth of 61 in the shot put at 11.61 meters (38' 1.25") and fifth of 31 in the discus at 38.00 meters (124' 8"). Her hammer and discus throws are All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers.
 
Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) finished first out of 92 competitors in the 100-meter dash in 12.23 seconds, an AARTFC mark. She also recorded an AARTFC mark with her seventh-place time of 25.20 seconds out of 124 competitors in the 200-meter dash. Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) was first of 20 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:35.61) and Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion) finished third (11:43.11), both with AARTFC qualifiers.
 
Hannah McMasters (Homer) and Alexia Prince (Spring Valley/Clement Howell) each turned in a pair of top-15 finishes. McMasters was fifth in the hammer (45.64 meters/149' 9") and ninth in the shot put (11.17 meters/36' 7.75"), while Prince was 11th in the 200-meter dash (25.99) and 15th in the 100-meter dash (12.88).
 
The 4x400-meter relay team of Izzie Bosko (Hillsdale/Taconic Hills), Faith Nelson (Rensselaer/Columbia), Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) and Matty Lucey (Freeville/Groton) finished fifth in 4:13.38. Reilly Quinn (Morrisonville/Beekmantown) was 10th in the high jump (1.50 meters/4' 11"), Kayla Tretola (Levittown/Island Trees) placed 14th in the shot put (10.79 meters/35' 5") and Lillian Swyers (Peru) finished 14th in the 100-meter hurdles (16.46).
 
Cortland hosts the Cortland Red Dragon Open & Multi on Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6.

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

Heading to Widener for our season opener has been a pretty good choice over the years – good facility, good level of competition, and good weather. This year was no different! This was one of the deepest meets they have hosted, and the weather was nearly perfect. Most years we have 2 weeks after spring break before this meet, but this year there was only one, and that made for a bit different of a challenge for us as compared to other years. The team really did well in handling that, which is a great way to start the season.
 
Speaking of nearly perfect, two of our events featured a 'perfect' day where all of our competitors set new PRs: first in the the 5k, with new PRs from Jewel Jones, Phoebe Peer, Bri Ostheller, and Rowan Leddy in the women's races, and Robby Davidson in the men's races; secondly in the javelin throw with a new PR from Ryan Joule and a new school record from Tommy Martin! I'm especially impressed with the efforts from Bri and Rowan who had to be very patient early to not get drawn out too fast, but then had to commit to work by themselves through a large chunk of the race.
 
Speaking of school records, Josh Jeffes set a new record in the men's 400, while Cheyenne McPeek had quite a weekend with a new school record in the hammer throw, and a new PR in the discus that also enters her into our top-five all-time list.
 
Speaking of the top-5 all-time list, the men's 4x400 relay of Evan Jensen, Zion Cheatham, Harrison Gavalas, and Josh Jeffes opened up with a time that ranks in the Cortland all-time top five.
 
Firstyears LeBron Richardson and Lassad Richards had really strong efforts in the 100 and 200 – we're quite pleased with the performances, but also know that more is there. In the 1500, Julia Benton and Mia Hannan both ran strong races to open up with new personal bests; Roland Zanger and Christian Hunter both had very strong openers in their 110 high hurdles – an event that is notoriously hard to get out well in as it is such a change from the indoor event. In the long hurdles, Brandon Root had a stellar opener for his senior campaign, while firstyear Declan Kennedy opened up his career with a strong effort and a solid time.
 
We open up at home this weekend with the Red Dragon Open – it will be great to have the chance to compete at home again!