BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Cortland women's indoor track and field team won its second straight State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title and 19th overall in convincing fashion at the championship meet at Brockport.
 
The Red Dragons placed first out of 12 teams with 199.5 points, more than 50 points ahead of runner-up Oneonta (147). Delhi (80), Plattsburgh (50) and Fredonia (47) rounded out the top five. The championship included eight SUNYAC core members along with four associate members - Penn St. Behrend, Delhi, Alfred State and Cobleskill.
 
Reilly Quinn (Morrisonville/Beekmantown) earned two of Cortland's five individual victories at the meet with triumphs in the long jump (5.60 meters/18' 4.5") and high jump (1.65 meters/5' 5"). Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) set SUNYAC meet and Brockport facility records in the mile run with her winning time of 4:53.59, which ranks seventh nationally in Division III. Kayla Tretola (Levittown/Island Trees) took top honors in the shot put (12.57 meters/41' 3") and Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) won the weight throw (16.51 meters/54' 2").
 
The DMR was also victorious as Kelly Newman (Harrison), Emily Pierro (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown), Mia Hannan (Lynbrook/Sacred Heart Academy) and Cassidy Wendt (Seaford) posted a time of 12:45.35.
 
Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield) finished second in the 60-meter dash (7.80, 7.78 prelims) and Jewel Jones (Long Beach) was second in the 3,000 meters (10:30.96). Faith Hoyt (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) was the pole vault runner-up (3.35 meters/10' 11.75"), and Lillian Swyers (Peru) finished second in the triple jump (11.04 meters/36' 2.75").
 
Brianna Gabbidon (Islip) was named the Co-Rookie of the Meet with Fredonia's Emma Gassman as they each scored 11 team points, the most among first-year athletes. Gabbidon led off Cortland's second-place 4x400-meter relay team, followed by Dahiana Martinez (Bronx/Bronx School of Law, Govt. & Justice), Anna Miller (Cornwall-on-Hudson/Cornwall) and Sophia Hotaling (Cooperstown), which finished in 4:06.73. Gabbidon also was third in the 200-meter dash (25.74) and sixth in the 60-meter dash (8.02).
 
Cortland's other third-place finishers at the meet included: Katie Ball (Smithtown/Smithtown East) in the pentathlon (2,767 points); Wendt in the 3,000 meters (10:33.14); Annabelle Schuck (Saratoga Springs) in the long jump (5.45 meters/17' 10.75"); Cheyenne McPeek (Johnson City) in the weight throw (15.47 meters/50' 9.25"); Hannah McMasters (Homer) in the shot put (11.51 meters/37' 9.25"); and Georgia Spuches Jwaskiewicz (Syracuse/Liverpool) in the high jump (1.65 meters/5' 5"). Spuches Jwaskiewicz tied for the top height in the high jump along with Quinn and Alfred State's Emily Richardson, but she officially finished third.
 
Cortland earned a total of 24 All-SUNYAC honors (16 individuals and eight relay runners). All-league honors go to the top three places in each event. Winners are first team, runners-up are second team, and third-place finishers are third team.
 
Also at the meet, graduate student thrower Colleen Patrie (Syracuse/Westhill) was named one of four winners 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 earned her undergraduate degree in inclusive childhood education major with a 4.0 GPA this past December and is currently a graduate student in special education.
 
A number of Cortland's other performances ranked in the top eight to score points at the meet:
 
4th place:
(Hannah) McMasters, Weight Throw, 14.89 meters (48' 10.25")
Gabriella Raymond (Sayville), Long Jump, 5.42 meters (17' 9.5")
Swyers, 60-meter hurdles, 9.33
Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion), 5,000 meters, 18:18.70
 
5th place:
Innocent, 800 meters, 2:20.29
Eilise Marino (West Sayville/Sayville), 60-meter hurdles, 9.49 (9.41 prelims)
Marino, Triple Jump, 10.61 meters (34' 9.75")
Ndukwu, Shot Put, 11.47 meters (37' 7.75")
Swyers, Long Jump, 5.37 meters (17' 7.5")
 
6th place:
Gabbidon, 60-meter dash, 8.02
Martinez, 400-meter dash, 1:01.82 (1:01.48 prelims)
Newman, 800 meters, 2:23.50
Hannah Nolan (Montour Falls/Odessa-Montour), Triple Jump, 10.54 meters (34' 7")
 
8th place:
Molly McMasters (Homer), Shot Put, 10.73 meters (35' 2.5")
Bri Ostheller (Penfield), 5,000 meters, 18:50.38
Raymond, Triple Jump, 10.46 meters (34' 4")
Sobczyk, 200-meter dash, 26.78 (26.73 prelims)
Tretola, Weight Throw, 13.55 meters (44' 5.5")
(tied) Molly Van Etten (Woodbourne/Tri-Valley Secondary), High Jump, 1.37 meters (4' 6")
 
Cortland's AARTFC qualifying performances:
 
Ball, Pentathlon (if in top 12; currently 27th)
Gabbidon, 200-meter dash and 60-meter dash
Hoyt, Pole Vault
Innocent, Mile and 800 meters
Jones, 3,000 meters
Marino, 60-meter hurdles
McPeek, Weight Throw
Ndukwu, Weight Throw
Quinn, High Jump and Long Jump
Raymond, Long Jump
Schuck, Long Jump
Sobczyk, 60-meter dash
Spuches Jwaskiewicz, High Jump
Swyers, Triple Jump, 60-meter hurdles and Long Jump
Tretola, Shot Put
Wendt, 3,000 meters
Wolcott, 5,000 meters
 
DMR (Newman, Pierro, Hannan, Wendt)
4x400-meter relay (Gabbidon, Martinez, Miller, Hotaling)
 
Final Team Scores:
1) Cortland 199.5, 2) Oneonta 147, 3) Delhi 80, 4) Plattsburgh 50, 5) Fredonia 47, 6) Buffalo St. 42, 7) Oswego 37, 8) Alfred St. 28.5, 9) Penn St. Behrend 15.5, 10) Morrisville 12, 11) Cobleskill 4.5, 12) Potsdam 0

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

What a weekend!

We had 101 athletes competing this weekend, which by itself is a pretty amazing statistic.

We had at least 60 different season bests/PRs over the course of the weekend, which is as pretty inconceivable statistic! I won't be able to name them all in here without driving our readers crazy!

We had two folks set championship AND facility records in their events (Isaiah Brunache in the weight throw and Melissa Innocent in the mile), which is just a downright amazing statistic!

Since our sports information department does such a stellar job with recounting the all-conference and all-SUNYAC performances, I want to make mention of a few other points that stood out.

First, changes to our top 5 lists:

* Melissa's mile is now #2 on our all-time list.

* Reilly Quinn is now tied for the 4th spot in our all-time list for Long Jump; both she and firstyear Georgia Spuches Jwaskiewicz are in a 5-way time for 5th on the all time list for high jump.

* Manuel Sepulveda moves up to #2 all-time in the triple jump list with his victory!

* Cheyenne McPeek has taken sole possession of the 5th spot in our all-time list for the weight throw with her PR from the weekend!

* Evan Collette moves up to #2 all-time in weight throw history with his big PR; Lucas Chamberlain has overtaken the #5 spot in the event as well.

* I feel like Brianna Gabbidon deserves some sort of honorable mention, as her 200 time was a scant .03 seconds from the 5th spot all-time at Cortland!

The men's team had a pretty strong weekend – there were a number of pretty exceptional efforts by the squad, and in the few places where folks made a mistake, we are deep enough as a program to be able to cover things. This is great in that it does so much to free our squad up to really try and perform at our best, rather than feel the pressure of 'needing' to score. Where we came up short, it was usually from the standpoint of folks caring a little too much and trying a little too hard. Like in all sports, 'forcing it' rarely works. Overall, we aim for scoring at least 10 points per event; for the men that happened in 10 of the 17 events, which is pretty incredible!

Our women's team started out strong on Friday, but we ended the night with only a slight lead, and concerns about where we stood in events for the finals the next day. We had performed well but credit to the Oneonta women's team for how well they came out over the first day! Our women responded incredibly well on day 2! The first event of Saturday (women's long jump) saw a barrage of new PRs, and a total of 25 team points. It was stellar! That 25 points was the highest points scored in any event in the entire women's meet, and it really put us in the driver's seat.

I'm especially proud of a couple of real team efforts that we had over the course of the weekend. This is pretty rare in track and field, but so wonderful to be a part of when it happens. My first example is that I didn't need to be near the throwing circle or check the online results to know that our men were excelling in the first flight of the shot put on Saturday morning. The cheers covered it all for me.

The second was watching the throng of Cortland athletes that gathered to watch the great battle in women's high jump, supporting Georgia and Reilly in their efforts (including a very long jump-off).

The third was watching a couple of our men commit to do the work for their teammates in distance races. We had made the ask of Jordan Wingert – having already run the 800 and the DMR – to take some pacemaking chores for the start of the 3k, and for Hunter Rautenstrauch – who had earned bronze with a massive PR in the 5k the night before to then pace the middle of the race for firstyear Declan Butler. They approached that task with resolute commitment, and brought Declan through nearly perfect through the 2k mark. And Declan responded – he took advantage of that setup to run a massive PR, and nearly take the win! Having selfless teammates like that is just a wonderful group to be a part of.

The fourth, and final I will share, had happened earlier in the day on Saturday. While the 3k is at the end of the meet, the mile is early on day one. We had made the ask of Jewel Jones to rabbit the race to try and get Melissa Innocent an NCAA qualifying time. We knew that we might be passing on some team points, and worse that it could hurt Jewel's race later in the day (don't worry, she not only PR'd but also earned silver). Jewel didn't hesitate, and pulled Melissa through 800 meters like a fine Swiss watch. As Jewel stepped off, Melissa provided a tremendous finish over the final 800 to record the performance mentioned above. The thing I really like though, is that the most excitement Melissa showed on the day is when she realized that their teammate MaryJane Politi – also in the race – had PR'd 12 seconds and moved up 3 spots from her seed over the course of the race!

This is a strange time of year, as some folks are getting ready for the outdoor season (which opens for us in 4 weeks), some are tuning up for NCAAs, and a large chunk is preparing for the AARTFC Championships this weekend at the historic 168th Street Armory in New York City.