WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. - Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) broke her own school record in the 100-meter dash and the Cortland women's outdoor track and field team tied for 17th place out of 55 schools at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championships Wednesday and Thursday at Williams College.
 
Cortland ended with a total of 16 team points. Geneseo won the title with 88 points, followed by Rochester (63), Ithaca (52), TCNJ (49) and Grove City (48) in the top five.
 
Pittman finished fourth in the 100-meter dash in 11.92 seconds, breaking her previous school FAT record in the event of 11.95 seconds set at last year's AARTFC meet. Pittman also placed fifth in the 200-meter dash in 24.69 seconds.
 
Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) finished fifth in the hammer throw at 50.32 meters, while Hannah McMasters (Homer) was eighth in the event at 48.35 meters (158' 7"). AnJalyna Talmadge (Pine Bush) also scored team points, which go to the top eight finishers, with a seventh-place toss of 12.24 meters (40' 2") in the shot put.
 
The top eight individual finishers and the top three relays earned All-AARTFC honors.
 
Alexia Prince (Spring Valley/Clement Howell) finished ninth in the 100-meter dash (12.23) and 10th in the 200-meter dash (25.43). Cheyenne McPeek (Johnson City) placed 11th in the hammer throw (47.41 meters/155' 6"), Lillian Swyers (Peru) finished 16th in the 100-meter hurdles (15.52) and 19th in the long jump (5.19 meters/17' 0.5"), and Talmadge was 21st in the 100-meter hurdles (15.76).
 
Cortland awaits the announcement of qualifiers for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, which be held in Geneva, Ohio, May 22-24. The final participant list will be posted on NCAA.com on Friday, May 15 by 6 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. As of late Thursday night, McPeek ranked 14th nationally in the hammer throw.

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

Well obviously three new school records and two SUNYAC records are pretty exciting, but there's a lot that won't be obvious from just looking at the stats now that the meet is concluded. We go into this meet focusing on taking a 'last chance' in events, as well as to prepare folks for the upcoming NCAA Championships, so it's kind of funny to me that we finished as well as we did on both the men's and women's sides.
 
We had so many people turn up with great efforts over the two days; I wanted to single out a bunch below:
 
LeBron Richardson posted a stellar 200 meters, setting a PR of .4 seconds and crushing the 22-second barrier into a headwind – it was a great effort, and a great race in preparation for next week's NCAA Championships.
 
We ran some nice tune-up efforts with all four of the guys on the 4x400 relay to have us ready for next week as well.
 
Amarian Hughes had some good progress is in his return to regular jumping after some minor setbacks through the spring; being back over the 15-meter mark was a great sign!
 
Isaiah Brunache had a very strong meet especially in the shot put, and really made some improvements on his already stellar technique.
 
Nick Kaires cracked the 50-meter barrier on the final discus throw of his career, which was fantastic to see!
 
Both Autumn Pittman and Alexia Prince ran PRs for the 100; Autumn lowered her own school record, while Alexia solidified her spot in our all-time top 5!
 
Jennifer Ndukwu had a nice PR in the finals of the hammer throw, after battling to earn her spot in those finals.
 
AnJalyna Talmadge set a lifetime best in the shot put to make and score in the finals, and take the team's top spot for the season and the #4 spot on our all-time list. Pretty good for a heptathlete in the final chance of her college career!
 
Lily Swyers set her outdoor PR in the long jump, which is obviously a wonderful way to end her season.
 
Overall, the funniest thing is how many folks – even those who didn't perform at the level they may have hoped for – still put down marks that would have been stellar for most of their careers – or significantly improved versus just the previous year. It's easy to get so fixated on the final result that we forget about the process that is so important to get us there.
 
With graduation coming this Saturday, it's bittersweet especially for the coaches as we say goodbye to so many of our team that have contributed so much to our program. We will certainly miss them for their athletic prowess, but much more for the people that they are.