UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's and women's track and field teams continue the 2020 indoor postseason on Friday and Saturday as they compete at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Indoor Championships hosted by Nazareth College. The selective and prestigious championship meet will be held at Nazareth's Golisano Training Center. Friday's main session will begin at 3 p.m., and the primary portion of Saturday's competition will begin at 10:30 a.m. Multi-event competition begins at 11 a.m. on Friday, and 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Follow Along: Live results will be provided by Leone Timing at https://results.leonetiming.com/?mid=1981. The current entry and start lists are also available at that link for your perusal. 

Meet Information: Full meet information, including information for spectators, driving directions, and an order of events, are made available by the AARTFC at https://www.aartfc.org/downloads/AARTFCCIndoorChampionshipsMeetInformation.pdf

Last Time Out: The Pioneers turned in an incredible performance at last weekend's Empire 8 Conference Championships. Both teams went on to finish in second in the team competition, with each side scoring exactly 133.5 points. UC took three out of the four individual awards at the meet. Sprinter Eshone Cofield-Jackson (Glen Cove, NY/Glen Cove) was selected as the E8 Women's Track Athlete of the Meet, while thrower Katrina Cornick (Mason City, IA/Mason City) completed a sweep of the women's awards by receiving E8 Women's Field Athlete of the Meet. Mitchell Marlow was named the E8 Men's Track Athlete of the Meet after sweeping the men's distance events. Utica won a total of eleven Empire 8 event titles over the course of the weekend. All of Utica's major award winners were also chosen as the E8 track and field athletes of the week in Monday's weekly awards.

Onward and Upward: With the Empire 8 Championships in the rear view mirror, the vast majority of the team will now set its sights on preparing for the outdoor season. For those who have hit the very high standards set for the AARTFC meet, this will present the final opportunity to achieve a mark strong enough to qualify for next week's NCAA Championships held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Saturday is the last day to achieve a qualifying mark that will be considered for the National Championships, with the field getting announced on Sunday. The top twenty athletes in each event nationally are accepted for NCAAs, with ties broken by an athlete's second best performance of the season in that event.

At Last Year's Championship: The Utica men placed sixth with 37 points in last year's team standings, while the UC women were 30th with a single point at last year's AARTFC Indoor Championships. Kyle Swiecki led the way for the men with a heptathlon performance totaling 4,789 points. That score broke the meet record. Thrower Keanu Heedram won the title in the shot put event. Utica's lone women's point was scored by Brittany Charlonne (Rutland, MA/Wachusett), who placed eighth in the women's pentathlon.

First Year Frenzy: Utica currently has two athletes in qualifying position for the NCAA Championships, and both of them are in their first year with the team. Eshone Cofield-Jackson (Glen Cove, NY/Glen Cove) swept the short sprints at the Empire 8 Championships with wins at 60 and 200 meters, and also teamed up as part of the winning 4x400 meter relay team. She is currently in national qualifying position in the 200 meters with a thirteenth place ranking at 25.55 seconds. Cofield-Jackson is seeded second at 200 meters, and eighth at 60 meters this weekend. Kelsey Wands (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) is a first time Empire 8 Champion in the long jump, and sits on the bubble in the final national qualifying spot in 20th at a mark of 5.59 meters. She is the fourth seed at this weekend's meet, and is the highest seeded rookie by eleven places.

At The Eleventh Hour: Besides the successful rookie tandem of Wands and Cofield-Jackson, three other Utica athletes sit in the top 50 nationally in their events this season with one final chance to vault up the national leaderboards coming on Friday and Saturday. Laura Meade (Glenville, NY/Scotia-Glenville) is 41st in the Triple Jump after claiming her first E8 titles this past weekend in that event, and in the 4x400 meter relay. She holds a season best triple jump mark of 11.32 meters. In the men's triple jump, All-American Ka'Sean Watlington is on the bubble of qualification with a 30th place national ranking, but his potential for a major performance can never be counted out. He currently has a jump of 14.26 meters as his season-high, but has jumped as far as 14.93 meters in his career. He was 8th at last year's NCAA outdoor championships, and 3rd at last year's NCAA indoor championships. Finally, defending AARTFC indoor champion Kyle Swiecki has a heptathlon score of 4,574 points to rank 34th nationally. He was 14th at NCAAs a season ago, and recently helped Utica in its second place Empire 8 finish by scoring in four different events. He enters this weekend's competition as the fifth seed.

A Dual Threat: Sophomore Laura Meade (Glenville, NY/Scotia-Glenville) has the potential to score in both horizontal jumping events under the right circumstances this weekend. She is the seventeenth overall seed in the long jump at 5.33 meters, but has a mark within contact of the top eight positions needed to score points. The E8 champion in the triple jump is seeded ninth in that event. She will also compete in the 60 meters.

Elsewhere In The Sprints: In addition to Cofield-Jackson and Meade, two others will run in the sprints this weekend for Utica. Caroline Castriotta (Barre, MA/Quabbin Regional) will attempt to break the eight second mark at 60 meters with a 17th place seeding at 8.03 seconds. Julianne Emerson (Oneida, NY/Oneida) also made the cut as the final qualifier at 200 meters with a time of 1:02.38.

Going A Long Way, Or Up A Ways: Utica has an intriguing pairing in the men's long jump for this weekend's championship. Ka'Sean Watlington will enter the meet ranked in 20th at 6.74 meters, but has cleared 7 meters in his career. Rookie Zuriel Wright is seeded fourteenth at 6.81 meters. Wright is also part of the team's entries in the high jump at a seed mark of 1.93 meters. He enters the meet tied with teammate Chase Pecoraro for the fifteenth seed. A jump of two meters will likely be required to make the podium.

Marlow Aims High: Senior distance specialist Mitchell Marlow will be focusing on the one mile run this weekend, and enters the championship in top form after setting the school record in the mile earlier this year, and winning at one mile, 3,000, and 5,000 meters at last weekend's Empire 8 Championships. He will be seeded thirteenth in an excellent one mile field at 4:21.77, and will seek an improvement on his ninth place finish from a season ago in the same event.

Diving In With Both Feet: Freshman Justin Garrett continues to be a showcase of potential in the long sprints. The first year runner has made the field at 400 meters, and will be seeded 22nd at a seed time of 52.10 seconds.

Throws Thoughts: UC will tote a strong contingent of throwers into this weekend's meet.  E8 Champion and Field Athlete of the Meet Katrina Cornick (Mason City, IA/Mason City) leads the group into the AARTFC meet with an eleventh place seeding at 15.33 meters, but has a chance to move up the leaderboard at any time as she continues to gain valuable experience in that event. Teammate Brealle Brown (Henrietta, NY/Rush-Henrietta) also made the cut in the weight throw, and did so with a mark of 14.03 meters. Antwan Kelly and Andrew Mucica will represent Utica in the men's weight throw. Kelly is the school record holder and will be seeded 21st at 15.83 meters. Zack Leader is the lone UC entrant in the shot put, and is ranked nineteenth at 14.25 meters.

Up Next: The Pioneers hope to send a contingent to next weekend's NCAA Championships in North Carolina. More details on qualification will be announced on Sunday, with an expected announcement before 7 p.m. from the NCAA.