By Jessica Landman
The Cardinal’s men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Cortland Red Dragon Open April 4. The women’s team brought back five first place finishers and the men’s team had to first place athletes. Sophomore Logan Van Buren said that the team as a whole competed well overall at the meet.
The first event on the track was women’s 400 meter hurdles. Janyll Barber was the only Plattsburgh athlete to compete, but she placed first with a time of 1 minute, 4 seconds and 12 milliseconds. This time earned her not only a SUNYAC qualifying spot, but she also qualified for the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC). This time puts her as fifth in the nation for the 400-meter hurdles.
Next was the women’s and men’s 4×100-meter relays. The women competed first with Morgan Thompson, Jessica Landman, Deanna Zoch and Hannah Cluck. They clocked an overall time of 53.62 seconds placing them in second. For the men, Nicholas Anderson, Levi Sochia, Cameron Guiliano and Aidan Masten finished with a time of 47.80 seconds, which put them in fourth place.
Following the relay was the 3,000 meter steeplechase. Both the men and women had only one athlete each in this event. Rebecca Block placed second overall with a time of 12:26.30, earning her a SUNYAC qualifying time as well. Micheal Brockway ran a time of 10:18.55, which placed him fourth overall also earning him a SUNYAC qualifying time.
`Guiliano clocked a time of 55.83 seconds putting him in 13th place on the men’s side.
The athletes in the 1,500-meter faced not only their opponents but the weather as well when it began to hail just after the first heat of the women. Sarah Smith pushed through, finishing with a final time of 5:20.87 and placing eighth overall. For the men, Van Buren, with a time of 4:12.02 finished just behind Noah Bonesteel, who placed fourth with a time of 4:11.32.
Both Kristen Boerke and Kathrine Berge ran their first 100 meter hurdle race of the outdoor season. Berge finished in second with a time of 19.24 and Boerke ran a 19.78 placing her in third.
Brexton Montville was the sole Plattsburgh athlete competing in the 100 – meter sprint. He finished with an AARFTC time of 10.99 seconds putting him in first place.
Next on the track was the 800 meter race. Smith finished in 13th with a time of 2:39.24. Aislyn McDonough ran both a SUNYAC and AARFTC time of 2:19.09 placing her in first. Bonesteel ran a 2:09.21 and Van Buren finished in 11th with a time of 2:04.95.
In the 200-meter sprint, Cluck finished in 12th with a time of 29.63, just behind Zoch who ended with a time of 29.01. Finally, finishing in 10th was Thompson with a time of 28.83. For the men, Anderson finished with a time of 24.92 placing him in 11th, and Montville finished in first with a time of 22.66 seconds.
Women’s shot put and men’s hammer throw opened in the field. The Cardinals took a clean sweep of the shot put with Bliss Rhoads taking third with a throw of 10.26 meters, Journey Myricks placed second with a distance of 10.75 meters, and Kaitlyn Bjelko finished first with a distance of 11.02 meters. Spencer Trudo competed in the hammer throw placing seventh with a throw of 33.21 meters.
Then Alaina Conners and Bjelko competed in the hammer throw. Conners took 12th with a throw of 32.49 meters and Bjelko threw 38.35 meters earning her sixth. Aidan Tous threw in the men’s shot put with a final distance of 11.87 placing fourth overall.
In the women’s javelin throw, Boerke placed ninth with a throw of 16.78 meters and Mikayla Osmer finished fifth with a huge personal record of 20.55 meters. For the men’s discus throw, Trudo ended in eighth place with a final distance of 31.89 meters. Tous earned a SUNYAC qualifying mark of 36.85 meters landing him in fourth place.
The throwing events ended with women’s discus. Conners placed 14th overall with a distance of 21.29 meters and Rhoads placed fifth throwing 31.35 meters. Myricks took first place with a final distance of 35.89 meters.
For women’s jumps, starting in the high jump, Berge finished third overall with a height of 1.37 meters and ended in seventh place in the long jump with a final distance of 4.45 meters. Osmer ended in 11th for the long jump with a jump of 3.75 meters. Michaela Schaffer was the sole Cardinal in the triple jump finishing in third place with a distance of 10.33 meters.
For the men’s jumps, Anderson finished seventh overall with a final jump of 5.55 meters. Masten jumped a personal record and SUNYAC qualify distance of 6.18 meters earning him first place overall. “The feeling was amazing because I had been working toward that goal for a while and hitting 20-feet overall is a major accomplishment for anyone who long jumps” Masten said
Smith and Masten were nominated as the builder of the week for their hard work and team spirit throughout the week and at the meet.
“[The next meet] will push me a lot more than before,” Zoch said. “There’s going to be a lot of competition and honestly it’s just another opportunity to get more PR’s.”
The men’s and women’s team will compete next weekend at the Southern New Hampshire Penman Relays, however, some select athletes will be traveling to Princeton to compete at the Larry Ellis Invitational.
