UTICA, N.Y. and STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland women's indoor track and field team sent competitors to both the Utica Blue and Orange Invitational and the Big Apple Invitational on Staten Island on Saturday.
 
Utica Highlights:
 
Jennifer Ndukwu (Queens/Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School) turned in Cortland's highest finish at Utica with a second-place showing out of 55 athletes in the weight throw at 16.03 meters (52' 7.25"). Hannah McMasters (Homer) finished in fourth place at 14.99 meters (49' 2.25") and Cheyenne McPeek (Johnson City) was 10th at 14.32 meters (46' 11.75").
 
Reilly Quinn (Morrisonville/Beekmantown) finished third and Georgia Spuches Jwaskiewicz (Syracuse/Liverpool) finished third (1.57 meters/5' 1.75") and fourth (1.52 meters/4' 11.75"), respectively, in the high jump. Gianna Boland (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) was fifth of 29 in the triple jump with a distance of 11.04 meters (36' 2.75"). Lillian Swyers (Peru) was ninth in the event (10.84 meters/35' 6.75") and Grace Reed (South Windsor, CT) was 11th (10.47 meters/34' 4.25"). Swyers also placed 12th of 54 in the 60-meter hurdles (9.58).
 
Kayla Tretola (Levittown/Island Trees) finished sixth of 47 in the shot put at 11.82 meters (38' 9.5"), while McMasters was ninth at 11.30 meters (37' 1"). Annabelle Schuck (Saratoga Springs) placed 12th of 47 in the long jump (5.09 meters/16' 8.25") and Mia McClaine (Albany/Colonie) finished sixth of 20 in the 3,000 meters (11:28.71).
 
Cortland's All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers at the meet were Boland (triple jump) and Ndukwu (weight throw).
 
Big Apple Highlights:
 
Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) posted a pair of runner-up finishes to lead Cortland's performances in Staten Island. She was second of 33 in the mile (4:59.66) and second of 37 in the 800 meters (2:21.37). Jewel Jones (Long Beach) finished seventh in the mile (5:12.25) and eighth in the 800 meters (2:26.26).
 
Kendall Sobczyk (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield) registered a sixth-place finish out of 50 competitors in the 60-meter dash in 7.92 seconds. In the 400-meter dash, Brianna Gabbidon (Islip) was 12th (1:00.61) and Sophia Hotaling (Cooperstown) was 17th (1:01.46) out of 40 runners. Gabbidon also finished ninth of 69 in the 200-meter dash (26.04).
 
In the 3,000 meters, Alexa Wolcott (Wyoming/Pavilion) finished in seventh place in 10:31.08. Cassidy Wendt (Seaford) finished 11th (10:41.10) and Phoebe Peer (Saranac Lake) was 12th (10:41.65).
 
Cortland's AARTFC qualifiers at the meet were Innocent (mile and 800 meters), Sobczyk (60-meter dash), Jones (mile) and Wolcott (3,000 meters).

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

We had a pretty exciting weekend of track and field with 3 meets over two days in two locations! We're fortunate to have the support of the college, the department, and our alumni to allow us to do this – our program is almost a village in and of itself, and it really 'takes a village' to keep things going in the right direction.
 
I think based off of this weekend, we can identify some event groups that really had stellar weekends. To start, women's triple jump showed a lot of depth and quality while at Utica, led by Gianna Boland breaking the 11-meter mark! Also at Utica, the men's weight throw squad showed out, with new season bests from Isaiah Brunache, Evan Collette, and Cabe Hogue! The men's vault squad put together a strong showing, as five different men hit a new season best, led by Skylar McFarling and John Anderson. The long sprints were quite productive – mostly at Ocean Breeze – with a number of PRs across the 200 and 400 distances. We've struggled a bit at this meet in the past as it falls into a bit of a harder training cycle, so this was very encouraging! In particular Brianna Gabbidon was strong in both the 200 and 400; Kyler Alston breaking the 50-second barrier indoors is quite a thing to be excited about!

The distance squads put together a really strong weekend, mostly at Ocean Breeze. Going to that meet allows for some fast races where people are motivated to keep the pace honest, and we took good advantage of it! Every miler that raced ran a season's best, as did every nearly everybody racing the 3000 – 18 out of 19 performances were the fastest of the year (and the 19th had the second-best performance of their life) – which is a really exciting place to be in! Of course, Melissa Innocent beating all the collegians at Ocean Breeze and breaking the 5-minute barrier in the mile to move up to #4 on our All-Time list is quite an accomplishment as well.
 
We are once again scattered across the Northeast this upcoming weekend, with small squads at Boston University, and the bulk of the team split between Utica and Cornell.