Women's Track and Field | 4/2/2022 9:47:00 PM

GENESEO, N.Y. - The St. John Fisher College women's track and field program opened the outdoor portion of the 2022 season with a strong showing at the SUNY Geneseo Early Season Invitational on Saturday. 

Two Cardinals, senior Samantha Shea and junior Riley Corey, earned individual medalist honors with victories in the 400-meter dash and 10,000-meter race, respectively. Both Shea and Corey also notched All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying times.

In the 400, Shea bested runner-up Nackera Allen of Bryant & Stratton (Buffalo) by .77 seconds with a time of 58.68, which ranks among the top dozen runners in the nation. In her other event, the 200-meter dash, the North Tonawanda native was ninth overall (26.34).

Corey not only turned in an AARTFC-qualifying performance in the 10K, but she breezed past the competition. The Waterloo native was 29.70 better than RIT's Erin Percy, as Corey was clocked with a 39:13.08, a mark that would place her among the top 12 runners in Division III. Also competing in the 10K was Morgan Gould, who placed fourth overall with a time of 41:10.19.

Separated by only two places in the 100-meter dash were the Fisher tandem of Michaela Kurbs and Maria Covelli. Kurbs' ninth-place effort earned her a new PR time of 13.08, while Covelli earned one of two top-20 finishes at the invitational by taking 11th (13.19).

Several other Cardinal runners logged personal records. In the 1,500-meter event, Taylor Highers was nearly 18 seconds quicker than her previous PR, finishing 11th with a time of 14:57.94. The 5,000-meter race saw both Laura Witt (18:55.22) and Brigid McGee (19:10.12) smash their PRs by over 19 seconds apiece. One of three Fisher athletes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Angelea Collins led the Cardinals in the event in fourth place with a new personal record time of 12:30.76.

Kurbs added to her effort in the 100 in the long jump. The second-year student-athlete from Lockport qualified for the AARTFC Championships by reaching a distance of 5.30 meters, trailing only Division I Buffalo's Kaylah Britt (5.45 m) and Samantha Spinella (5.31 m).

Sophomore Makenna King earned a bid into the conference championships in one of her two throwing competitions. She bested her former outdoor PR in the shot put with a qualifying distance of 11.63 meters, good enough for fourth place overall. Additionally, King was seventh in the discus (33.87 m).

The Fisher women's track and field team will hit the road again next Saturday, April 9, when the Cardinals head to Cortland, New York, for SUNY Cortland's Red Dragon Open.