Women's Track and Field | 5/7/2022 8:58:00 PM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – St. John Fisher College captured its second consecutive Empire 8 Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals, who entered the second day of the meet with the lead, won the E8s with a 14-point margin over second-place Nazareth College.
In addition to the 10,000-meter title on by
Riley Corey on Friday, the Fisher secured two more individual and two relay championships on Saturday. As a result, the Cardinals bested the hosts from Nazareth, 202-188. Utica University was third with 135 points.
The Cardinals had a strong showing in the relays by winning two of the three events. In the 4x100,
Ciarra Franz,
Samantha Shea,
Gracie Wright, and
Michaela Kurbs logged a 0.62-second victory over Utica's quartet with a time of 49.15 seconds. In the 4x400,
Gracie Wright,
Emma Wright, Shea, and
Breanna Lambert cruised to a two-and-a-half second win over Nazareth with a time of 4:01.30.
Franz, Shea, and
Gracie Wright not only had a busy afternoon in the relays but also ran several sprints. Franz won the 100-meter hurdles in 14.69 seconds and was third in the 100 (12.52s). Shea was the runner-up in the 100-meter dash (12.47s), placed third in the 400-meter dash (57.88s), and was fourth in the 200 (26.50s). Wright set a personal record with a second-place showing in the 400 (57.80s) and came in third in the 200 (26.45s).
Shea, Franz, and Kurbs all achieved All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying times in the 100, while
Gracie Wright and Shea did so in the 400-meter sprint. Additionally, both winning relay teams secured berths in the AARTFC championships.
Vanessa Ramos was the fastest Cardinal in the 800-meter race, earning fourth in 2:30.31. She was also part of the 4x800 squad, which placed third in 10:27.77.
Alivia Collins, the second leg of the 4x800 team, earned silver in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 12:38.40.
In the fastest 400-meter hurdle race of her career,
Megan McAllister came in fourth with a new personal record of 1:08.66.
Maria Covelli, a junior from Hamburg, New York, logged her best finish of the E8s in the triple jump. Although it wasn't a PR, Covelli's fifth-place triple jump was the second-longest of her collegiate career at 10.66 meters.
After setting a new E8 championship record in the 10,000-meter race on Friday,
Riley Corey turned in a third-place performance in the 5,000-meter race (19:00.33). Sophomore
Laura Witt grabbed two fifth-place finishes as she led the Cardinals in the 1,500-meter run (5:08.28) and was approximately 19 seconds behind Corey in the 5,000-meter race (19:19.30).
In the field,
Makenna King took home Fisher's fifth gold medal of the weekend. The sophomore thrower won the discus with a distance of 38.41 meters, in addition to a third-place performance in the shot put (11.60m). Both of King's marks are good enough to qualify for the AARTFC championship meet.
Jordan Lehman was just two places behind King in both competitions. Her 32.35-meter throw in the discus earned the senior third, and she took fifth place in the shot put (10.39m).
After winning their second Empire 8 Outdoor Track and Field Championship in a row, the Cardinals will now turn their attention to the AARTFC Championships, hosted by Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on May 18-19.
