UTICA, NY - The Utica College track and field programs will host a dual meet for the first time ever as they entertain the Sage Colleges in a Friday night meet at the Todd and Jennifer Hutton Sports and Recreation Dome. Events will begin at 4 pm with portions of the men's and women's Pentathlon, and the main meet program begins at 5 p.m.

The Competition: The meet will be primarily contested as a dual, but a limited number of unattached athletes, including some talented members of the Utica Coaching Staff, will also be competing. Assistant coaches John Boisette, Shayna Held, and Sam Catterson are all due to compete. Multi-event athletes from Ithaca and Geneseo will also be involved. 

Order of Events

There will be a men's and women's pentathlon competition on Friday. That kicks off at 4 p.m. with the running of the 60 meter hurdles events. The hurdles will be followed by the high jump, shot put, long jump, and then the 800 or 1000 meter run.

Field events will begin at 5 p.m.

The horizontal jumps will begin with the women's long jump. That will be followed by the men's long jump, women's triple jump, and then the men's triple jump.

The throws will commence with the women's weight throw. That will be followed by the men's weight throw, and then the women's and men's shot put will go in order. A second throwing ring may be added for the shot put if other events allow for more available officials.

The pole vault and high jump competitions will start with the men's event going first in both, followed by women's competition.

The track event schedule begins at 5 p.m., and will proceed as follows. Women's events will be contested first, except in the 60 meter hurdles final, where the men will compete first to eliminate an additional adjustment for the hurdle crew.

60m Hurdle Prelim
60m Dash Prelim 
Mile 
60m Hurdle Finals (Men-Women) 
400m 
60m Dash Finals 
800m 
200m 
3000m
4x400m relay

Follow Along: Live results will be available through the incredible crew at Leone Timing. They can be found at http://www.leonetiming.com.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers competed against a field of Division I athletes, and held their own in doing so at the Colgate Invitational on February 21st. The men's squad prevailed in the team competition with 49 points over the course of the day's events, while the Utica women placed third with a total of 28 points. The teams combined to win a total of eight events.

Heads Up: In the midst of this truncated Indoor season, observers should take note that the Empire 8 Indoor Championships are close at hand. The Empire 8 Indoor Championships will be held on March 19th and 20th at Nazareth College.

The Future Is Here: The newest members of the UC Track and Field program showed tremendous promise at Colgate. Of Utica's eight event wins in the season opener, six of those came from the Pioneers' rookie class.

Welcome To The Show: Freshman sprinter Daijon Richards had one of the more impressive debuts in program history at Colgate. The short sprinter delivered a win at 60 meters in a time of 7.05 seconds. That is the third fastest time in the history of the program. He also was second at 200 meters in a time of 23.40 seconds. His 60 meter time leads the Empire 8. He was the first Empire 8 Track Athlete of the Week of the season. He will compete at 60 meters and 400 meters this weekend.

Meade Gets It Done: Laura Meade (Glenville, NY/Scotia-Glenville) had a solid season debut for the Pioneers in the horizontal jumps. She had a second place finish in the long jump and triple jump at Colgate. Her best long jump spanned 4.43 meters, while her best triple effort went for 9.61 meters. She was the best triple jumper in the Empire 8 conference a season ago, as she won the E8 title and later recorded a top mark of 11.38 meters. She was also the second best long jumper in the E8 with a leap of 5.33 meters.

The CNY Throws Connection: The season opener marked the return of two locally grown throwers, along with one tremendous newcomer from Utica's backyard. The Liverpool, NY tandem of Antwan Kelly and Jacob Barnes were a force to be reckoned with at Colgate with Kelly winning the men's weight throw in an E8-best 14.01 meters, and Barnes placing second in the shot put at a mark of 12.33 meters. Newcomer Justin Swavely was in the top two in both of his events. The former Rome Free Academy Black Knight threw the 35 pound weight to a distance of 13.73 meters to place second, and also won the shot put with a performance of 12.77 meters. Kelly and Swavely are the top two weight throwers in Section 3 history, with both going over 62 feet with the 25 pound implement. Swavely and Barnes are two of just five E8 athletes to throw over 12 meters in the shot put so far this season.

Going Higher: A pair of UC freshmen swept the victories in the high jump at Colgate, and one of them is leading the Empire 8 in that event at the present time. Amina Sinclair (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) soared to a conference-leading height of 1.53 meters to win the women's high jump, and Justin Valentin won the tiebreaker off a 1.73 meter leap to claim the win in the men's high jump. Valentin also was victorious in the men's 60 meter hurdles as he put down a time of 9.69 seconds, a time that ranks fifth in the E8.  Zuriel Wright did not compete in the high jump in the opener, but the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year will cause havoc in the championship conversation after going as high as 1.93 meters last year. Wright will compete in the high jump on Friday.

Magic Wands: Sophomore sensation Kelsey Wands (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) will make her season debut on Friday. Last year, she emerged as the headliner for the Pioneer jumps group in a phenomenal rookie season. She leapt into the record books with a new school record in the long jump of 5.59 meters, a mark which qualified her for the NCAA Championships and later earned her All-American honors. She logged a total of five podium finishes in that event over the course of the indoor season. That included winning the Empire 8 indoor long jump title, and placing fourth at the All-Atlantic Region Championships in her first appearance there.

Up And Over: Freshman multi-eventer Andrew Weider shined in his college debut as he won his debut pole vault outing at Colgate with a 2.90 meter performance. Junior Caroline Castriotta (Barre, MA/Quabbin Regional) was second in the women's vault with a 2.70 meter return to the event. The Pioneers have yet to fully reveal their hand in the vault. Top men's vaulter Kyle Swiecki only has outdoor track eligibility remaining. Defending E8 women's champion Meaghan Romaguera (Stone Ridge, NY/Rondout Valley) also has not competed yet, as she doubles as a member of the Utica volleyball squad. Junior Hunter Hendricks will make his season vaulting debut this weekend along with sophomore Gabrielle DeSanctis (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford)

To The Max: Coralynn Maxwell (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) was excellent for Utica in her first meet of the season. The senior multi-eventer won the women's 60 meter hurdles with a clocking of 10.78 seconds, and was also third in the long jump. Her hurdles performance currently sits third in the conference. Maxwell's performance is especially impressive after a long hiatus from competition. She did not compete as a member of the team during the 2019-20 indoor season. Maxwell is formerly the school record holder in the women's pentathlon, and currently has the fourth best mark in that event in school history.

Dual Threat: Sei Sei opened the season with runner-up performances in the 400 meters and long jump at Colgate. His opening mark of 6.18 meters in the long jump is third in the E8, and his 400 meter time of 55.06 seconds is ninth in the conference's early-season rankings.

In The Long Run: The Pioneers will put athletes into a distance event for the first time this season in Friday's meet, with athletes sprinkled across the mile and 3,000 meters. Kristin Daino (Johnson City, NY/Maine-Endwell) and Brooke Wilson (Waterville, NY/Waterville) will contest the women's mile, and will be joined by newcomer Hayden Lohmann in the men's mile. At 3,000 meters, senior Elizabeth Darling (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) is scheduled to compete. The Pioneers will also load up the 800 meter field with some other athletes making their season debuts. John Colocho, Hunter Reed, Kyler Ford, and Antonio Reyes will toe the line for the men, while Darling and Alyssa Winberg (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) will compete for the women's squad.

Something to Note: The Pioneers will enter Caroline Castriotta (Barre, MA/Quabbin Regional) and Gabrielle DeSanctis (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) into Friday's women's pole vault competition. They will be joined by a competitor who is anything but ordinary in terms of achievement in that event. Three-time National Champion and Division III National Record Holder Katherine Pitman, formerly of Ithaca College, is also scheduled to compete as she begins preparing to take a run at making Team USA for the upcoming Olympic Games. Pitman set a Division III national record mark in the indoor vault during the Empire 8 Championships held inside the Hutton Dome a few years ago. 

In The Multis: The meet will feature a one-day pentathlon competition for both men and women. In the men's competition, Andrew Weider will be joined by a trio of unattached competitors with ties to the program, as assistant coach Sam Catterson, Kyle Swiecki, and Chase Pecoraro will all compete. In the women's competition, Coralynn Maxwell (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) will be joined by a highly decorated field. Assistant coach Shayna Held will break out the spikes to compete. She is a multiple-time All-American in the multi-event competitions at SUNY Geneseo. They will be joined by Geneseo's Emily Lavarnway and Ithaca's Logan Bruce, who will both be looking to set high standing marks on the all-time Division III list in that event.

Up Next: The Pioneers will compete next at the Empire 8 Championships hosted by Nazareth College.