Women's Track and Field | 5/6/2022 10:40:00 PM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Riley Corey and the St. John Fisher College women's track and field team finished the first day of the 2022 Empire 8 Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships atop the leaderboard.

With 98 team points, the defending champions concluded Friday with a 26-point lead over second-place Nazareth College. The next-closest team, Utica University, has just 31 points.

For the second consecutive spring, Corey was crowned champion in the 10,000-meter race. The standout junior from Waterloo, New York, did so in record-setting fashion, as she set a new meet record with a time of 39:07.43. She never trailed in the race and reached the first marker at 400 meters with a lead of almost six seconds. Corey bested the runner-up from Houghton College, Rachel Domaracki, by 8.04 seconds.

Corey and Laura Witt, who placed fourth, both achieved All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying times. For Witt, her time of 39:59.32 set a new personal record.

 Fisher's other first-place runner on Friday was Ciarra Franz. In the preliminary round of the 100-meter hurdles, Franz won her heat in 14.71 seconds, another AARTFC qualifying time for the first-year student-athlete from Pittsford, New York.

In the 100-meter prelims, Michaela Kurbs, Samantha Shea, Franz, Maria Covelli, and Gracie Wright each earned the right to advance to Saturday's finals. Kurbs had the fastest prelim time with a PR of 12.63 seconds, followed by Shea (12.65) and Franz (12.68).

Wright and Shea also competed in the 400-meter dash and took home medals. Wright placed second with a personal-record time of 57.80 seconds, followed by Shea in third place at 57.88 seconds. Both times were under the AARTFC qualifying standard.

Alivia Collins was not only Fisher's best performer in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, but she also helped the 4x800 relay squad earn a top-three finish. In the steeplechase, Collins was the runner-up at 12:38.40. She then ran the second leg of the relay with teammates Angelea Collins, Emma Wright, and Vanessa Ramos, as the quartet finished in 10:27.77.

Four field events were held on Friday: the pole vault, long jump, hammer throw, and javelin. Although the Cardinals were unable to earn gold in either event, Fisher had the runner-up in all four.

Senior Alondra Arroyo and freshman Emily Frech were second and fourth in the pole vault. Arroyo cleared a height of 2.90 meters, while Frech surpassed 2.75 meters.

Kurbs and Veronica Duell finished one-hundredth of a meter apart in the long jump. Kurbs was second with a PR mark of 5.72 meters, while Duell placed third with a distance of 5.71 meters on her sixth and final try.

Similarly, seniors Jordan Lehman and Elizabeth Izydorczak came in second and third, respectively, in the hammer throw. Lehman's second throw reached 43.03 meters. Izydorczak set a new personal record on her fourth toss, which was measured at 42.96 meters.

Ada Sylvester logged a runner-up performance in the javelin. Although Friday's conference championship marked only her second appearance in the event as a Cardinal, the Houghton, New York, native was second overall with a distance of 28.40 meters.

Looking to repeat as Empire 8 champions, the Cardinals will return to Nazareth's Golden Flyer Stadium for the second half of the 2022 E8 Outdoor Championships on Saturday, May 7.