Balloni and Rissmeyer Tally Empire 8 Honors
Junior
Jaimee Balloni of Utica College was named Empire 8 Indoor Track Athlete of the Week and Ithaca senior Amanda Rissmeyer was named the E8 Field Athletic of the week.
Balloni won her first race of the season Saturday at the Brockport Invitational as she took first place in the 1000 meter run with an ECAC qualifying time of 3:08.24. She also guided the 4x800 relay team to a record-breaking win clocking a final time of 10:27.09.
The Pioneers return to the track on Saturday when they travel to nearby Hamilton College to participate in the Hamilton Indoor Invitational at 10 a.m.
Rissmeyer scored 3,366 points to placed second out of 21 competitors at Sunday’s Bomber Invitational/Multi pentathlon at Glazer Arena. Her point total of 3,366 ranks her second in the nation, just 18 points shy of the top performer. Rissmeyer placed first in the high jump and shot put and second in the long jump. She cleared 1.68 meters to meet the facility record in the high. The mark that ranks her fifth in the country. She threw 11.30 meters in the shot and tallied a mark of 5.30 meters in the long. Her high jump and long jump performances met the ECAC qualifiers.
Ithaca returns to action on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8-9 at the Boston University Valentine Invitational, at the Ithaca Quad Meet and the Cornell Kane Invitational.