Women's Indoor Track and Field | 1/15/2022 6:06:00 PM
UTICA, N.Y. – Although the thermometer read single-digit temperatures on Saturday, the St. John Fisher College women's track and field team brought the heat inside of Utica College's Hutton Sports and Recreation Center at the Pioneers' Winter Opener. With 111.5 total points, the Cardinal women ran away with a team victory – scoring 37 more points than the next closest competitor.
Riley Corey made her season debut in the 5,000-meter race as she finished in third place and qualified for this season's All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championship with a time of 18:36.23. She was joined on the podium by Laura Witt, who placed sixth and shaved a sliver of a second off of her personal best time in the race with a new standard at 19:51.75.
In sprints, Samantha Shea and Gracie Wright blew their stellar performances from last week out of the water as Shea re-set the indoor program record in the 400-meter run at 59.29 seconds (.19 seconds faster than last week) and placed first in the race while Wright set a new best time by a freshman in the 400-meter run at 59.79 seconds (.44 seconds faster than last week) and placed second. Also, Wright eclipsed the AARTFC qualification mark in the event and has secured a trip to Regionals for her standout performance.
Ciarra Franz made her Fisher debut in the 60-meter hurdles, where she not only took first in the race, but fell just .05 seconds shy of meeting the Regionals-qualifying mark. By her side in the race was classmate Milan Simmons, who took a third-place finish by crossing the finish line in 10.11 seconds.
Additionally, Lauren DeMichele claimed 13th place of 43 competitors in the mile, as she set a team-best time of the season in the event at 5:41.27, while Alivia Collins and Taylor Highers went 5-7 in the 800-meter run as they each ran season-low times, clocking in at 2:31.81 and 2:34.01, respectively.
The relay squad of G. Wright, Emma Wright, Breanna Lambert, and Shea wrapped up the day with a first-place finish in the 4x400 at a 4:11.98 finish – just under two seconds shy of qualifying for Regionals.
Jordan Lehman dominated the throwers' pit once again as she placed second in both the weight throw and shot put. The graduate student first threw 14.53 meters in the weight throw on just her second attempt, then went on to heave 11.64 meters in the shot put for a new season-best mark and making the AARTFC-qualifying mark.
As for the remaining field events, McKenna Cone returned to the triple jump, where she recorded back-to-back marks of 9.88 meters to place fifth overall, while Alondra Arroyo bested last week's pole vault mark by .01 meter, for a new season-best height of 2.90 meters and a third-place finish in today's event.
Fisher gets back to work again one week from today, on Saturday, January 22 when the teams travel across town for the Brockport Invitational.