Track and Field saw its first outdoor action this past weekend, sending a small number of athletes to the Penn Challenge at the University of Pennsylvania. While most of the team did not compete, many field athletes were able to break into the outdoor season at the meet and start the outdoor season strong. The women’s team produced one first-place finish and three second-place finishes, while the men’s team produced three second-place finishes.
“We sent a small group of our field event athletes who didn’t get a lot of opportunities to compete indoors,” said Women’s Head Coach Mike Henderson. “So just giving them a few extra opportunities to get their season going while the rest of the group recovers from indoor and resets for outdoor.”
This meet held several events that could not be held indoors such as the javelin throw and discus. Cornell was represented well in the two events, as the Red took second in both events. In the javelin throw, junior Ziling Liu took second place with a 43.46m throw. In the discus, sophomore Abby Nonnenberg took second place with a 43.90m throw.
Some other notable results from the women’s team include junior Victoria Atkinson winning the pole vault with her 3.95m finish, freshman Tia Taylor taking second in the triple jump with her 11.22m jump and freshman Maddie Packer taking third in the long jump with her 5.70m jump.
On the men’s side, freshman Otreyvien Taylor took second in the high jump with a 2.02m jump, sophomore Shane Racey took second in the pole vault with his 4.90m finish and junior Jamaur Williamson took second in the triple jump with his 13.50m jump.
As the field athletes broke into their outdoor season, the remainder of the team awaited their spring break debut. During the transition to the outdoor season, the team has been working hard to train and has been taking advantage of the recent good weather. The Red hopes to come out firing at its next meet, the South Florida Invitational in Tampa, Florida, on April 8-9.
“Things have been going really well. I think practices have been great, people have been excited,” Henderson added. “We’ve had pretty good weather and it’s been really nice getting outside and gearing up for the outdoor season. We’re getting excited about spring break and competing and have been getting good energy going.”
The Red will travel to Florida on April 2 and have the week to train in the hot Florida weather before competition. Until then, preparation will continue in the capricious Ithaca weather.