UTICA, NY: The Utica University Pioneers will host the Empire 8 Indoor Championships on February 28, 2025 at 3pm and March 1, 2025 at 10am. This meet will be held at the Todd and Jen Hutton Sports and Recreation Center at Utica University.
 
Follow along: Live results will be posted here, via Leone Timing.
 
A Look at the Schedule: The Empire 8 Indoor Championships kicks off at 3 p.m. on Friday the 28th with a select number of events at the meet. Day one begins with shot put, pole vault, and long jump for the field events, and the 60m dash trials, mile, 60m hurdles trials, 400m, 5,000m, and the distance medley relay on the track. Day two kicks off with the weight throw, high jump, and triple jump for the field events, and the 60m dash finals, 60m hurdles finals, 800m, 200m, 3,000m, and the 4x400m relays on the track. 
 
Triple Threats: In the 60m hurdles three Pioneers achieved top ten finishes. This trio consisted of Olivia Jensen (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook), Amelia Petersen (Fonda, NY/Fonda-Fultonville), and Stefania Grimaldi (Poland, NY/Poland Central) where they placed fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.
 
Race to the Podium: In the 60m dash, Nyasia Marsh (Westmoreland, NY/Westmoreland) proved herself yet again by running a time of 8.11. This time landed her in third place for the event. 
 
Miles Ahead: The distance medley relay consisting of Marlo Townsend (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy), Kamryn Williams (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills), Madalyn Haaf (Pompey, NY/Fabius-Pompey), and Catherine Manna (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) qualified for the AARTFC meet with an impressive time of 13:05.02.
 
Vaulting into Greatness: Cassondra Wood (Canasota, NY/Canasota) made a spectacular mark of 3.01m in the pole vault event. This mark locked her in as second place in the event and fifth on the all time leaderboard. Right behind her was Amber Piersma (Cassville, NY/Mount Markham) with a vault of 2.86m.
 
High Expectations: Continuing on her remarkable path from the Pioneers' last meet, Hannah Allison (Herkimer, NY/Herkimer) managed to jump a 1.57m mark in the high jump where she received second place. Jada Anthony (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) took home fifth place with a 1.42 jump.
 
Jumping to the Top Ten: The Pioneers had four top ten placements in the long jump event. Dominating like usual, Nora Devitt (Beverly, MA/Beverly) took home second place with a leap of 5.18m. With a leap of 4.95m, Grimaldi took home sixth in the event. Zeniyah Gholson (Monticello, NY/Monticello) jumped 4.75m and Sophia Bruce (Apalachin, NY/Vestal) made a 4.65m leap to take home eighth and ninth place respectively. Devitt also took home the top spot in the triple jump with a leap of 11.01m. In fourth place, Gholson jumped 10.65m. Also in the top ten, Bruce had a jump of 9.91m which landed her in seventh place.
 
Ruler of the Podium: Riley King (Oswego, NY/Oswego) continued her dominance and took home first place in the weight throw event with a throw of 15.32m. Hailey Hrouda (Wappingers Falls, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) threw a 13.28m toss and Ranasia Bailey (Parish, NY/Altmar-Parish-Williamstown) threw a 12.47m toss which landed them both within the top ten in the event. King also was the top Pioneer finisher in the shot put with a 10.89m toss.
 
Up Next: The Utica University Pioneers will attend the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference on Friday March 7 at 10 am and Saturday March 8 at 10 am. This meet will be hosted by Ithaca College and is a qualifier only meet.