Women's Track and Field | 5/18/2022 10:48:00 PM

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The St. John Fisher College women's track and field team opened the 2022 All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Conference Championships Wednesday on the campus of Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The Cardinals ended Wednesday in 11th place in the team standings with 10 points. With a firm grasp on the lead, SUNY Geneseo has more than twice as many points as second-place St. Lawrence University with 59.

Fisher competed in seven different events on the opening day. On the track, the 4x400 relay team of Gracie Wright, Emma Wright, Breanna Lambert, and Samantha Shea established a new program record en route to a fifth-place finish. The quartet clocked in a 3:56.10, 1.29 seconds faster than the previous mark set in 2016 by Chelsea Cleveland, Emily Strong, Sydney Saccone, and Jess Colmerauer.

Junior Riley Corey ran her quickest 10,000-meter race of the season at 39:01.91. Corey, who came in fifth place, trimmed over five-and-a-half seconds off of her time from her Empire 8 Conference Championship performance. Senior Morgan Gould also participated in the 10K and placed 23rd.

In the other distance event, Laura Witt logged her second-fastest 5,000-meter race of the 2022 outdoor season. The sophomore from Webster, New York, was 10th with a time of 18:50.73.

In the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries, standout freshman Ciarra Franz qualified for Thursday's title race. Franz was a mere two-hundredths of a second off her personal-record pace, as she came in sixth in 14.68 seconds. In the other sprint prelim, the 100-meter dash, Michaela Kurbs was 21st with a time of 12.66 seconds.

In the field portion of the regional meet, Alondra Arroyo and Makenna King competed in the pole vault and discus, respectively. Arroyo set a new PR in the pole vault by clearing 3.31 meters, one-tenth of a meter more than her previous best, resulting in a 12th-place finish.

King's first discus toss was her furthest of the day. The sophomore from Norwood, New York, reached 39.85 meters, which put her in the lead after one throw, but ultimately settled for seventh place.

On the second day of the 2022 AARTFC Championships on Thursday, May 19, the Cardinals will compete in the following events: the 100-meter hurdle finals, 400-meter dash, 4x800 relay, long jump, shot put, and hammer. Fans unable to attend the meet can follow along with live results and streaming video.