BROCKPORT, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's track and field team saw at least 17 of its members set new career best marks on Saturday's final day of competition at SUNY Brockport's Multi & Invitational, held at the College's SERC. With 66 total points, the Cardinals finished fourth in team competition, with its highest-scoring events coming in the long jump, the 5,000-meter run, and 200-meter dash.
 
Freshman Veronica Duell led the way in the long jump for the Cardinals, as she achieved a personal best leap of 5.37 meters on her final attempt to win the event. She also improved her All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference (AARTFC) Championship-qualifying mark by .05 meters and moved her name to sixth on the region's best marks. Sophomore Michaela Kurbs, who owns the region's third best mark, placed third in today's competition, as she measured a best mark of 5.18 meters to bring the Cardinals' scoring in the event to 16.
 
Lauren DeMichele took the day's title in the 5,000-meter run, adding 10 points to the team score. After making a strong start, the junior fell into second place but made a push to take back the lead in the race's final 200 meters, taking the win by just .65 seconds.
 
Samantha Shea and Gracie Wright went 3-5 in the 200-meter dash at times of 26.50 seconds and 26.88 seconds, respectively to earn 10 more points for the team leaderboard. Additionally, six more Cardinals set personal best marks in the same race.
 
Freshman Ciarra Franz became an AARTFC qualifier in the 60-meter dash, setting back-to-back personal bests in the day's two rounds. Franz ran an 8.10 second preliminary round, then solidified her trip to regionals with an 8.08 second final round to finish fifth overall. That's now the second event that Franz has qualified for regionals in, as she surpassed the time for the 60-meter hurdles last week.
 
In today's 60-meter hurdles, Milan Simmons opened the preliminary round with a 9.90 second finals-qualifying mark, then sped her way to a fifth-place finish and personal best time of 9.78 seconds in the finals.
 
Finally, the throwers wrapped up the day with Jordan Lehman and Makenna King showing again why they're headed to regionals in their respective best events. Lehman heaved a mark of 15.16 meters on her first attempt at the weight throw, which earned her a third-place finish on the day. King was Fisher's best finisher in the shot put as she tossed a casual 11.56-meter mark on her third attempt for sixth place.
 
Next weekend, the Cardinals will split up between two meets: a handful of athletes will travel to Boston, Massachusetts for the Valentine Classic Invitational hosted by Boston University on Friday and Saturday, while the remainder of the team will head across town to the Rochester Institute of Technology for the RIT Invitational on Friday.