CORTLAND, N.Y - The Cortland women's outdoor track and field team captured its 18th State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championship and first since 2014 at the 12-team conference championship meet Friday and Saturday. Cortland hosted the event.
 
Cortland finished with 238 points, followed by Oneonta with 170 and Delhi with 111. Penn State Behrend (60) and Plattsburgh (59) rounded out the top five. The field included eight SUNYAC core member schools along with four associate members, Penn St. Behrend, Delhi, Alfred State and Cobleskill.
 
Cheyenne McPeek (Johnson City) led a group of six Red Dragon who won individual conference titles with her school-record winning distance of 53.66 meters (176' 0") in the hammer throw. AnJalyna Talmadge (Pine Bush) won the heptathlon (3,911 points), Autumn Pittman (Spring Valley/Ramapo) was the 100-meter dash champion (12.16, 12.05 prelims) and Deirdre Sullivan (Tappan/Tappan Zee) won the 5,000 meters (18:18.49). Kayla Tretola (Levittown/Island Trees) was the champion in the discus (34.40 meters/112' 10") and Reilly Quinn (Morrisonville/Beekmantown) won the high jump (1.57 meters/5' 1.75"). Quinn was one of three competitors to clear 1.57 meters, and she earned the title since she cleared the height on her first attempt compared to the others converting on their second or third tries.
 
Pittman was the league runner-up in the 200-meter dash (25.04), Talmadge finished second in the shot put (11.45 meters/37' 6.75" and Julia Benton (Addison) placed second in the 10,000 meters (39:45.79). Ryan Stark (Schuylerville) finished second in the pole vault (3.35 meters/10' 11.75"), Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) was the runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:51.16) and Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) finished second in the hammer throw (48.73 meters/159' 10").
 
Lillian Swyers (Peru) earned third-place finishes in both the 100-meter hurdles (16.22, 15.80 prelims) and the long jump (5.16 meters/16' 11.25"). Cortland's other third-place finishers included Ndukwu in the shot put (11.45 meters/37' 6.75"), Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:54.09), Katie Ball (Smithtown/Smithtown East) in the heptathlon (3,396 points), and the 4x400-meter relay team of Abby Hardy (Johnson City), Faith Nelson (Rensselaer/Columbia), Yasmine Peralta (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) and Izzie Bosko (Hillsdale/Taconic Hills) (4:08.32).
 
The top three finishers in each event earn All-SUNYAC honors – winners are first team, runners-up are second team and third-place finishers are third team, with their official all-league designation from the conference based on their best placement.
 
Also at the meet, junior Colleen Patrie (Syracuse/Westhill) was named the co-winner of the SUNYAC Women's Indoor Track and Field Elite 20 award. The honor goes to the student-athlete at the finals site of each league championship with the highest overall GPA. Patrie is an inclusive childhood education major with a 4.0 GPA. She also claimed a share of the award during the SUNYAC indoor championship meet.

Numerous Cortland performances in addition to those above ranked in the top eight to score points at the meet. Those performances included:
 
4th place:
Alexia Prince (Spring Valley/Clement Howell), 200-meter dash, 25.79
Innocent, 800 meters, 2:29.03, 2:22.14 prelims
Jewel Jones (Long Beach), 1,500 meters, 4:56.54
Caitlin Maher (Hartsdale/Ardsley), Triple Jump, 10.34 meters (33' 11.25")
McPeek, Shot Put, 11.30 meters (37' 1")
 
5th place:
Prince, 100-meter dash, 12.68, 12.30 prelims
Abby Hardy, 400-meter dash, 1:00.92, 59.85 prelims
Jones, 800 meters, 2:30.80, 2:22.30 prelims
Barney, 5,000 meters, 19:37.34
Bri Ostheller (Penfield), 10,000 meters, 42:13.65
Amelia Konstanty (Lockport/Royalton-Hartland), 400-meter hurdles, 1:12.67, 1:10.84 prelims
Swyers, Triple Jump, 10.33 meters (33' 10.75")
Tretola, Hammer Throw, 41.81 meters (137' 2")
(3-way tie) Abigail Carberry (Sayville), Pole Vault, 2.75 meters (9' 0.25")
 
6th place:
Kristin Ieva (North Babylon), 1,500 meters, 5:08.27
Rowan Leddy (Norwood, NJ/Northern Valley-Old Tappan), 10,000 meters, 42:21.64
Grace Reed (South Windsor, CT), High Jump, 1.42 meters (4' 7.75")
Maher, Long Jump, 4.92m (16' 1.75")
Hannah McMasters (Homer), Shot Put, 10.93m (35' 10.5") and Discus, 32.01m (105' 0")
 
7th place:
Nelson, 400-meter dash, 1:01.66, 1:00.63 prelims
Mia Hannan (Lynbrook/Sacred Heart Academy), 1,500 meters, 5:08.37
Phoebe Peer (Saranac Lake), 5,000 meters, 19:50.97
Jade Hornick (Valley Stream/Valley Stream South), 10,000 meters, 42:40.42
Regan Kaiser (Queensbury/Glens Falls), High Jump, 1.37m (4' 6")
Reed, Long Jump, 4.81 meters (15' 9.5")
Hannah Nolan (Montour Falls/Odessa-Montour), Triple Jump, 9.95 meters (32' 7.75")
 
8th place:
Nelson, 200-meter dash, 27.45
Jess Neubert (Buffalo/Kenmore East), Hammer Throw, 39.07 meters (128' 2")


Cortland will potentially compete at "Last Chance" meets over the next week, and the Red Dragons will compete at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Outdoor Championships May 14-15 at Williams College in Massachusetts. Cortland's AARTFC qualifiers during the SUNYAC Championships were:
 
Ball, Heptathlon (if ranked in top 16; currently 30th)
Benton, 10,000 meters
McPeek, Hammer Throw
Ndukwu, Hammer Throw
Pittman, 100 meters and 200 meters
Prince, 100 meters (prelims)
Stark, Pole Vault
Sullivan, 5,000 meters
Talmadge, Heptathlon (if ranked in top 16; currently 12th), and Shot Put (during heptathlon; 12.02 meters/39' 5.25")


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

It was a pretty strong finish to the season for the bulk of our program!
 
I need to start off by thanking our folks that make this happen behind the scenes: athletic training staff, facilities folks, event management, etc. Hosting any meet is a challenge; hosting the conference championships – especially with lightning delays, a suspension of competition due to weather, and just a generally unpleasant day on Saturday with continuous rain and cool conditions are not the most enjoyable and stress-free weekend. We had a number of folks in the program that were instrumental in making the meet run as smoothly as it could given the challenges; people who competed on Friday and then helped Saturday, as well as some folks who were out with injury. Their willingness to help is incredibly important to make things happen.
 
Of course our coaching staff is crucial to make this happen as well. It is a long couple of days out there even under the best of circumstances, and they definitely put the time and effort in over the weekend!
 
We're very pleased with the effort, focus, and competitiveness that the teams showed over the weekend. When looking over the meet results of course two new school records, 15 individual conference titles, and 25 additional all-conference awards are quite impressive! Especially considering some of the conditions that we dealt with. In looking at some specific performances, a few things that stand out besides those would be Mitch Diamond, who set PRs in the 100, triple jump, and ran a fantastic anchor leg of the 4x100 relay (earning all-conference in two of those events); Ryan Joule, who battled through injury and the suspension of his event to earn all-conference in the javelin in some of the best throws of his career! When we resumed competition on Saturday, Ryan 'won the day' with the farthest throws of any competitors, only being beaten on throws from the previous evening.
 
Abby Hardy ran a tremendous PR on Friday in the 400, and the followed it up with the second fastest time of her career on Saturday and a great lead-off leg of the 4x400 relay. Our women's 10k squad opened up our day on Saturday with tremendous efforts, led by Julia Benton breaking the 40-minute barrier in her runner-up effort.
 
Grace Reed – a relative newcomer to the sport – produced great efforts, scoring in both the long jump and the high jump, which were great additions to the overall team effort.
 
Besides the win by firstyear Jordan Wingert, teammates Carter Naginey, Mike Alvarez, and Zach Arria all set PRs; Mike and Zach both by over 2 seconds to close our their seasons!
 
And while it doesn't jump off the page when you look at the results, sophomore Sean Keane had three PRs over the weekend (hammer throw, shot put, and discus)! If that isn't an example of peaking when it counts, I don't know what is!
 
There are many more individual victories through the weekend! It's a good problem to have when there are too many to mention here. Of course we're happy to get the wins on both sides again, but the way in which we went about our business of the weekend was a real pleasure to be a part of. It's also a bit of a sad moment, as we say goodbye to folks who have finished their eligibility and those that are graduating early! We appreciate the time and effort they have put in to be with the program, and will miss having them with us!
 
We have the potential for a number of upcoming 'final qualifier' meets this upcoming weekend, along with the AARTFC Championships meet next week before the NCAA Championships at the end of the month.