ITHACA, N.Y- The Cortland women's indoor track and field team finished 42nd out of 55 schools at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championships. The event was hosted by Ithaca College on Friday and Saturday.
 
Cortland scored three points by virtue of Autumn Pittman's (Spring Valley/Ramapo) sixth-place finish in the 200-meter dash. She posted a time of 25.46 seconds and earned All-AARTFC honors in the event, which go to the top eight finishers in each individual event and the top three in each relay. Geneseo was the team champion with 106 points and Ithaca was runner-up with 81.83 points.
 
Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) finished 14th in the shot put (11.66 meters/38' 3.25") and 17th in the weight throw (14.55 meters/47' 9"). Cheyenne McPeek (Johnson City) was 17th in the shot put (11.59 meters/38' 0.25") and 21st in the weight throw (14.37 meters/47' 1.75"), and Hannah McMasters (Homer) was 18th in the weight throw (14.53 meters/47' 8") and 23rd in the shot put (11.14 meters/36' 6.75").
 
Lillian Swyers (Peru) finished 16th in the triple jump (10.48 meters/34' 4.75") and 17th in the 60-meter hurdles (9.41). Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) placed 15th in the mile (5:16.03), Alexia Prince (Spring Valley/Clement Howell) was 15th in the 200-meter dash (25.89) and Ryan Stark (Schuylerville) tied for 18th in the pole vault (3.17 meters/10' 4.75").
 
The 4x400-meter relay team of Faith Nelson (Rensselaer/Columbia), Izzie Bosko (Hillsdale/Taconic Hills), Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) and Matty Lucey (Freeville/Groton) finished in 14th place (4:08.06). Regan Kaiser (Queensbury/Glens Falls) and Reilly Quinn (Morrisonville/Beekmantown) each competed in the high jump.
 
Cortland awaits the announcement of qualifiers for next weekend's NCAA Division III Championships, which be held March 14-15 at Nazareth University in Rochester. The final participant list will be posted on NCAA.com this Sunday, March 9, by 7 p.m. The top 20 in each individual event and the top 12 in each relay (4x400 and DMR) qualify for nationals. As of Saturday evening, Cortland athletes ranking in the national qualifying spots are:
 
Autumn Pittman, tied 9th, 60-meter dash

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

This meet is always a bit of a strange one – coming off the conference championships, we won't compete everybody that has qualified as the outdoor season is fast approaching. For those that do compete there is the combination of a letdown post-conference, along with a high level of perceived pressure to really "do something special," especially if you are younger in your career. Sometimes this leads to some pretty strange results!
 
Melissa Innocent's mile was probably the highlight for the women's team – after setting the pace in both races last weekend, we were hoping that she would be able to connect to a fast pace in her heat. Unfortunately, the field didn't want to go after running fast – but Melissa ran the second fastest mile of her life by a large margin, and made good racing decisions, but also recognized some minor errors that she can improve on. That's great progress!
 
Alexia Prince and Lily Swyers returned from big lifetime PRs last weekend to strong performances this weekend in the 200 and the high hurdles, both running times that would have been lifetime bests just 8 days ago. Overall, we're generally pleased with how folks competed through the weekend.
 
For the men, getting a new school record for the 9th week in a row is something pretty remarkable – and that relay time is one of the fastest ever at the Division III level, especially considering it was run on a flat track as opposed to a banked track. Zion Cheatham had a great day overall, with a big PR in the 200 indoors, nearly matching his lifetime best from outdoors!
 
Both Matt Schaffert and LeBron Richardson raced well in the 60, breaking 7 seconds in the trials. Matt earned a spot back to Saturday's finals, and capitalized to take 3rd overall in the meet. The three guys in the open 400 were really good about getting out how they needed to, which was great to see!
 
Mitch Diamond finished off indoors with a solid effort in triple jump; the men's weight throw group of Isaiah Brunache, Evan Collette, and Luke Chamberlain did quite well – Luke had a lifetime best, Evan was consistently launching the ball today over 17 meters, and Isaiah responded really well to hit his second-best throw ever on his final attempt.
 
We're looking forward for the opportunity to represent Cortland at next weekend's NCAA Championships at Nazareth in Rochester, NY – being able to have very limited travel over the past couple of weeks has been a wonderful change for us!