UTICA, NY - Bennett Melita (Johnstown, NY/Fonda Fultonville) and Hannah Allison (Herkimer, NY/Herkimer) have been selected as the Pioneer Athletes of the Week for the week of February 17th, 2025 after some standout showings at the DIII Elite Meet this past weekend.

Melita had an excellent outing at this past weekend's DIII Elite Meet held in Rochester, NY. The sophomore star participated in the one mile during the meet, running extremely well and managing to notch a final mile time of 4:18:78. His rapid pace led him to finish milliseconds away from the school record time which was set by Mitch Marlow in 2020. Marlow's mile record is a 4:18:46, meaning that Melita is mere steps away from accomplishing the feat. In addition to his near record-breaking performance, Melita also managed to finish fourth in a stacked field featuring 42 of Division III's top competition. Melita was the only sophomore in the top five, with the rest of the feature finishes being captured by three seniors and one junior. 

As for Allison, The sophomore from nearby Herkimer also had herself an excellent outing at the meet, blowing away the competition in the women's high jump and winning the event by a large margin to get the gold over 14 other competitors. In addition to her victory, Allison also created a bit of history, breaking the previous school record for women's high jump which was set by Makiya Donnelly in 2022. Donnelly held the previous record at 1.60m, a tally that Allison took down with her 1.61m jump at the meet this past weekend.

The Pioneer Track & Field team will return home this weekend to host the Pioneer Fast Trax Invitational. That meet will begin at 2:00 PM this Saturday, February 22nd.