Women's Track and Field Takes First Place at St. Lawrence Invite

CANTON, NY - The Utica University women's track and field team took home first place at the St. Lawrence Invitational, hosted by St. Lawrence University on Saturday afternoon with a score of 207 points.

In the relays, the 4x200m team of Arianna McClendon (/New York Mills), Nyasia Marsh (Westmoreland, NY/Westmoreland), Shiann Williams (Bronx, NY/Hydel) and Lilly Messler (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) ran their way into first place and a season's best with a time of 1:50.77. In the distance medley relay, the team of Catherine Manna (Whitesboro, NY/whitesboro), Caroline Young, Madalyn Haaf (Pompey, NY/Fabius-Pompey), and Meghan Sonnacchio (Central Square, NY/Central Square) ran a time of 14:56.98.

The Pioneers were stellar on the track with several top three finishes. In the 200m, McClendon ran a time of 27.70 and Marsh ran a time of 27.97 to go first and second in the event, respectively. In the 400m, McClendon topped the podium again with a time of 1:01.00, while Williams took second in the event with a time of 1:01.44. In the 800m, Manna took third place with a time of 2:29.63. In the 3000, Marlo Townsend (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) walked away with a first place time of 11:07.06 to move into the eighth spot all time in the event. In the 60m hurdles, Stefania Grimaldi (Poland, NY/Poland Central) placed first with a time of 9.84, and Olivia Jensen (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) took third with a time of 9.95.

In the field events, the Pioneers also produced several top finishes. In the high jump, Hannah Allison (Herkimer, NY/Herkimer) and Jada Anthony (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) took first and second place with a 1.55 and 1.45m leap, respectively. In the pole vault, Cassondra Wood (Canasota, NY/Canasota) took first place with a vault of 2.75m and Amber Piersma (Cassville, NY/Mount Markham) took second place with a vault of 2.60m. In the long jump, Marsh took second place with a jump of 4.92m. In the triple jump, Sophia Bruce (Apalachin, NY/Vestal) took first place in the event with a 10.00m jump, while Camdyn Cole (Cortland, NY/Homer) and Leigha Soto (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) finished third and fourth with less than a 0.01m difference between the two. In the shot put, Ranasia Bailey (Parish, NY/Altmar-Parish-Williamstown) tossed a 9.63m to finish in third place. In the weight throw, the Pioneers took second, third, and fourth place courtesy of Riley King (Oswego, NY/Oswego) (14.71m), Hailey Hrouda (Wappingers Falls, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) (13.86m), and Ranaisa Bailey (12.79m).