UTICA, NY -The Utica College track and field teams open the 2022 portion of their schedule on Saturday, January 15th as they host the Utica Winter Opener. The meet begins at 10 a.m. at the Todd and Jennifer Hutton Sports and Recreation Dome.
Follow Along: Live results will be presented by LeoneTiming at http://www.leonetiming.com.
Field Event Schedule
10:00 AM
Long Jump (Women & Men - 2 Runways)
Following LJ: Triple Jump (Women & Men - 2 Runways)
Weight Throw (Women followed by Men)
Shot Put (Men followed by Women)
Pole Vault (Women inside oval, followed by Men outside oval)
12:00 PM
High Jump (Men followed by Women)
Track Event Schedule
(All running events will have women's competitors first, followed by men's competition unless noted otherwise)
10:00 AM
5000m
11:00 AM
60m Prelim
60m Hurdle Prelim
Mile
400m
60 Hurdle Finals (Men-Women)
500m
60m Finals
800m
1000m
200m
3000m
4x400m
4x200m
Last Time Out: Utica hosted the UC Holiday Classic on December 11th and 12th at the Hutton Dome. The UC men were third in the team standings with 78 points, while the UC women were fourth with 80 points.
Sprint Stories: The UC men's sprinters have established a dual threat in the 60 meter dash that has put conference teams on notice with the E8 Championships not far away. In just one appearance this season, Daijon Richards has equaled his career-best at 60 meters. He logged a 7.05 second showing in a preliminary heat at St. Lawrence on his way to the victory in Utica's opener. Joshua Washington is right behind Richards with a 7.06 second showing at the UC Holiday Classic. Those times represent the top two performances on the current Empire 8 leaderboard. The Pioneers also hold the fastest time in the conference in the men's 200 meters, as junior college transfer James Boss posted a time of 23.66 seconds in the team's most recent competition. The UC women are seeing great success in the longer sprints, with newcomer Mackenzie Mix (Camden, NY/Camden) at the helm. The local product is undefeated in her first five event appearances to start her career, and has the E8's fastest 200 meter time in 26.28 seconds. That 200 meter time ranks eighth nationally. Ayjah Clarke (Glen Cove, NY/Glen Cove) is seventh in the E8 at 60 meters with a 8.42 second performance, and Janaiya Cruz-Bermudez (East Hartford, CT/East Hartford) is fourth in the conference at 400 meters in 1:03.01.
Hurdle Hubbub: Sophie Henderson (Rome, NY/RFA) has gotten back into form quickly after a long hiatus from competition. In just her second meet with UC since Feburary 2020, the veteran hurdler picked up a second place finish in the 60 hurdles at the UC Holiday Classic in 9.74 seconds. The time is the fastest early season performance in the E8, and is just a tenth of a second off her best time with Utica. The UC men are continuing to count on the versatile Justin Valentin, who debuted this season with a 9.29 second performance. That placed sixth at the team's most recent meet, while also landing him fifth on the conference performance list. He has gone as quick as 9.13 seconds in that event, a performance which helped get him in the points at the 2021 E8 Indoor Championships.
Throwing Theories: UC has dominated the men's throws among its Empire 8 peers this season. The squad holds the top performance in both men's throwing events. They have been especially dominant in the shot put, where they hold down seven of the top ten positions. Hunter Logan is the conference leader at a mark of 15.28 meters, which is the seventh-best mark in the country currently. 2021 E8 indoor champion Arthur Bittel has returned with a 13.83 mark to currently stand third in the conference, and in the top 50 nationally. The men's weight throw standings are currently topped by rotational specialist Antwan Kelly, who has come in the top two places in both meets this season and has a season-best mark of 15.96 meters to his name, which is the #24 mark in the country. Gabrielle DeSanctis (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) has been the top women's throws performer in the early season. She ranks eighth among conference shot putters at nine meters even, and is ranked fourth among conference competitors in the weight throw at 14.11 meters, which also is in the top 50 nationally.
The Wright Stuff: Jumper Zuriel Wright is off to an exceptional start to the season. With a runner-up clearance of 2.01 meters at the UC Holiday Classic, Wright is ranked seventh nationally in the high jump. He also leads the E8 this season in the long jump, with a 6.74 meter mark that ranks 32nd nationally. His high jump mark is a personal best.
Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump: Utica currently holds the top three conference rankings in the men's long jump, while holding two top five positions in the women's long jump. Behind Wright, Josh Washington and Sei Sei have also unleashed tremendous early long jump performances. Washington is second in the conference and 45th nationally at 6.65 meters, while Sei is third in the E8 and 46th nationally at a distance of 6.64 meters. Washington's performance is a personal best. The women's long jump duo of Kelsey Wands (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and Laura Meade (Glenville, NY/Scotia-Glenville) sit third and fourth in that event currently, but with personal bests far exceeding their current season marks, the pairing should be in line for a huge run into championship season. Wands, a two-time national qualifier, has the best long jump mark on the squad at 5.07 meters, while Meade finished December with a best mark of 4.98 meters. Meade is currently atop the Empire 8 triple jump leaderboard with a 10.67 meter performance. The defending E8 outdoor triple jump champion is one of only two competitors in the conference to put up a mark over ten meters so far this year. Makiya Donnelly's (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) collegiate debut in the high jump at St. Lawrence netted her a winning mark of 1.53 meters, which is second-best in the E8 on a rookie-led leaderboard.
Money Mid-Distance: Fresh off some successful participation in cross country, Utica is getting strong early season performances from its middle distance group. The Pioneers have two of the top 3 women's 800 meter performances among conference competitors. Jade Dening (Remsen, NY/Remsen) has the E8's fastest time of 2:30.21, which is 27th nationally and tops among E8 athletes. Dening also ranks second amongst the E8's 1,000 meter competitors. Veteran Laura Levi (Inlet, NY/Town of Webb) is third at 800 meters in 2:25.76. Hayden Lohmann leads a quiet early season E8 leaderboard at 800 meters by a hundredth of a second with a clocking of 2:06.18. Michael Roberts has the second-fastest conference time at 1,000 meters in 2:47.45. Lohmann and Roberts are also fourth and fifth in the mile, respectively.
See You At The Finish: The UC women's 4x400 relay has looked particularly potent to start the season. The team of Cruz-Bermudez, Mix, Dening, and Meade has already gone as fast as 4:11.04, a time that leads the Empire 8 conference by ten seconds, and is also 15th nationally.
Up Next: Utica will visit Hamilton College for a rare weeknight meet on Friday, January 21st.
