UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's and women's track and field teams will compete in their third home meet of the season on Saturday, February 1st. The Pioneers will host the Pioneer Open at the Todd and Jennifer Hutton Sports and Recreation Dome, with events beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Follow Along: Live results will be made available through the fine crew at Leone Timing. They will be located at http://www.leonetiming.com.

The Field: Utica will host entries from LeMoyne, Hamilton, RPI, Potsdam, Mount St. Mary College, Union and St. John Fisher this weekend.

Senior Day: Saturday's meet will also serve as senior day for the Men's and Women's track and field programs. The senior day celebration will begin around 10:00 a.m. at the Hutton Dome, as we honor a group of seniors that, as a team, have brought Empire 8 men's and women's outdoor championships home to Utica within the last four years.

Field Event Schedule: Field events will begin at 11:00 AM, and will be contested under the following schedule.

Long Jump (Women and Men simultaneously on two runways)

Triple Jump will follow the long jump in the same two runway format.

Weight Throw (Women's competition first, followed by Men's)

Shot Put (Men's competition first, followed by Women's)

High Jump (Men's competition first, followed by Women's)

Pole Vault (Women's competition first, followed by Men's)

Track Schedule: Track events will begin at 10:30 AM under the following schedule. Women's competition will be contested first in all running events except for the 60 hurdle finals, where the men will compete first to eliminate an additional height adjustment for the hurdles. The running events will be done on a rolling time schedule to ensure the meet program moves along in an orderly fashion. The order is as follows.

5000m run
Distance Medley Relay
60m hurdle preliminaries
60m dash preliminaries
One mile run
60m hurdle finals (Men's - Women's)
400m dash
60m dash finals
800m run
200m dash
3000m run
4x400m relay

Last Time Out: The Pioneers competed on Friday and Saturday at the Cornell Upstate Challenge inside Cornell University's Barton Hall. No team score was kept for the participating Division II and III institutions at the meet. The jumping events produced some of Utica's best performances at the event, with Ka'Sean Watlington guiding the men by placing third in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump. Jacob Pishkula and Sei Sei finished seventh and eighth in the long jump competition. Kelsey Wands (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) was sixth in the women's long jump, and Laura Meade (Glenville, NY/Scotia-Glenville) was fifth in the triple jump. Both met the AARTFC standard in their best event finish of the day.

Field Athlete of the Week: Utica College freshman Kelsey Wands (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) was named the Empire 8 Field Event Athlete of the Week on Monday. The honor is the first of her career. Wands put together a personal best jump of 5.30 meters to measure up in sixth place in the women's long jump at the Cornell Upstate Challenge. That mark qualifies for the AARTFC Championships and is 44th nationally. She was the second best Division III competitor in the competition. She also competed in the women's 60 meter dash.

Welcome Back, Ka'Sean: All-American Ka'Sean Watlington made his long awaited season debut on Saturday in his signature event, the triple jump. The performance was worth the wait as he produced a solid opening performance of 14.26 meters. That mark holds up very well in the early season rankings nationally, as he is currently thirteenth in Division III and would qualify for the national championships if the selection deadline was today.

Swieck The Quick: 2019 NCAA heptathlon qualifier Kyle Swiecki has established terrific early position nationally in the multi-event ranks. Amidst a field heavily populated with Division I competitors, Swiecki was fifth in the heptathlon at Cornell with 4,499 points. He currently stands ninth in the country with that point total.

Let It Fly: Katrina Cornick (Mason City, IA/Mason City) turned in another terrific performance on Saturday in the throwing circle. She was fourth in the women's weight throw in a new personal best of 14.77 meters to qualify for the AARTFC Championships, and also was eighth in the shot put at 11.28 meters. She has placed in the top five in her first three meets throwing the collegiate weight, and has a mark that sits just outside the top 50 nationally. The men's weight throw is also establishing itself as an area of strength for Utica this winter. Freshman Antwan Kelly ranks third in the Empire 8, just ahead of Pioneer veterans Andrew Mucica and Zack Leader.

Emergent Threats In The Sprints: A pair of freshmen have rose to the forefront of Utica's efforts in the sprints this season. For the men, Zuriel Wright ranks sixth in the Empire 8 at 60 meters with a time of 7.32 seconds, and is the fastest Pioneer at 200 meters in 23.59 seconds, which ranks fourth in the conference. For the women's squad, Eshone Cofield-Jackson (Glen Cove, NY/Glen Cove) is currently the Empire 8's fastest woman at 60 meters and 200 meters with times of 8.04 in the 60, and 26.80 at 200 meters. The women's team owns four of the top seven times in the Empire 8 at 60 meters, and both teams hold three of the top six spots at 200 meters.

Distance Declarations: Senior distance runner Mitchell Marlow is currently leading the Empire 8 conference with the fastest times in the one mile and the 3,000 meters. He timed a season best 4:25.24 at the Cornell Upstate Challenge in the mile this past weekend, and ran a 9:07 at 3,000 meters the previous week. Kyle Engelhart is second at 3,000 meters in 9:21. For the women's squad, Kaitlyn Stinson (South Kortright, NY/South Kortright Central School) ranks second at 3,000 meters.

Double Trouble In The Hurdles: Sophomore Hannah Durant (Schenectady, NY/Guilderland) and junior Sophie Henderson (Rome, NY/RFA) are continuing to build on the foundation the women's hurdles squad set down a season ago. Durant has run as fast as 10.03, and will fine tune her way towards a personal best as she sits third in the Empire 8 at present. A personal best time may put her in contention to win at the Empire 8 championships in just a few short weeks. Henderson is ranked fourth at 10.08 seconds and has run as fast as 9.64 in her career.

Clearing The Bar: The vertical jumps group holds up very well among their Empire 8 peers this season. The Pole Vault has been at the pinnacle of the team's performance so far, as Chase Pecoraro leads the conference in 4.35 meters and is one of four Utica athletes that rank in an Empire 8 scoring position at present. Caroline Castriotta (Barre, MA/Quabbin Regional) and Meaghan Romaguera (Stone Ridge, NY/Rondout Valley) are tied for the conference women's lead at 2.90 meters. In the high jump, Pecoraro is ranked second, and Swiecki is ranked in fourth.

Up Next: The Pioneers will host the Blue and Orange Invitational on February 8th and 9th.