This past Saturday the Red track teams took advantage of the nice weather to wrap up their regular seasons. In front of the Robert J. Kane Sports Complex fans, the Red dominated Lock Haven, Mansfield, Cortland, and Baptist Bible College.
“It was a pretty good meet,” said men’s head coach Nathan Taylor. “Its great to have good weather; and have all the team here and competing together — that helps the atmosphere.”
Altogether the Red men and women combined for 28 wins, 19 Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America and ECAC qualifiers, four NCAA Regional qualifiers, two school records, three freshman records, and six new stadium records.
In the 100-meter hurdles, the Red swept the top five places. Senior co-captain Hannah Garrity won the event in 14.17, edging freshman Stephanie King who finished in 14.18. Both qualified for the ECAC championship, and King’s time set a new freshman record. In the 200-meter dash, Garrity once again led the way, setting a Kane Complex record of 24.67.
Junior Kari Steed was a close second, finishing in 24.71, also besting the old Kane Complex record. Both qualified for the ECAC. Junior Shonda Brown won the 400-meter hurdles in 58.90 shattering the school and stadium record, and qualifying for the NCAA Regionals. Brown also won the 100-meter dash in 12.33. Sister, junior Jessica Brown cruised to victory in the 400-meter dash in an ECAC-qualifying 56.09. Other winners included sophomore Emily McCabe in the 1500 meter, freshman Morgan Uceny in the 800 meter, and sophomore Christy Planner in the 3000 meter.
In the long jump, sophomore Karen Snyder recorded a leap of 19-11, setting a new school and stadium record and qualifying for the NCAA Regionals. Senior Ib Stanley finished second with a jump of 18-10 3/4. Classmate Kalifa Pilgrim won the triple jump in an ECAC-qualifying 39-0 1/2.
In the hammer throw, junior Becky Tucker (170-9) and freshman Danielle Dufresne (165-4) finished first and second, respectively. Both qualified for the ECACs, and Dufresne’s toss set a new freshman record. In the discus, junior Stacey Nadolny once again qualified for the ECAC by winning the event with a throw of 148-0. Other winners included junior Amy Leung in the pole vault, sophomore Sheeba Ibidunni in the shot put and freshman Sarah Wilfred in the high jump. The team is ready for the Heptagonal Championships next weekend.
“There are always things you wish you could do a little bit better,” women’s head coach Lou Duesing said. “It’s not because we haven’t been working at it, it hasn’t quite clicked yet. People have worked very hard to get to this point. They have demonstrated that they are very fit and other schools are very fit as well. I think the people are very ready going into Heps.”
The men were led by two excellent performances by freshmen. Kofi Ofori-Anash set a new freshman record in the triple jump with a mark of 50-6. In the high jump, freshman David Pell produced the fifth best performance in school history, leaping 6-10 3/4. Both qualified for the NCAA Regionals.
Junior Ryan Schmidt won the long jump at 23-10 3/4, bettering the IC4A standard. Senior co-captain Giles Longley-Cook also surpassed IC4A standard with a throw of 180-8 to win the hammer. Senior Didier Lecorps won the discus, reaching 153-11, while classmate Adam Sansiveri won the pole vault in an IC4A-qualifying 15-9 1/4.
On the track, sophomore Greg Simonds won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.85. His time was eighth best all-time at Cornell and qualified him for the IC4As. Freshman Kolby Hoover placed third in the event with a solid 54.10. In 800-meter, senior co-captain Aldo Gonzalez and sophomore Gordon Hall finished first and second, respectively as the Red took six out of the top seven places. Gonzalez’s time of 1:51.30 set a new stadium record and qualified him for the IC4As. Junior Sam Mackenzie won the 1500-meter in 3:56.60, just beating classmate Emory Mort by .01 seconds. Freshman Brad Baird won the steeplechase in 9:54.50, while senior Eric Pederson finished third in 110-meter hurdles.
The team is adequately prepared for Heps.
“Except for a couple guys who are trying to come back from injuries,” Taylor said. “Particularly, Travis Offner and Tyler Kaune, we are in about as good of a position as we could be.”
Archived article by James Rich
Sun Staff Writer