Courtesy of Oneonta Sports Information Department
With the outdoor track and field season underway, the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) has decided to throw it back to when Oneonta won their first outdoor track and field title in program history in front of their home crowd. The Red Dragons kept their home fans glued to their seats, as they pulled out their victory in the final two events.
Oneonta trailed Brockport by seven points entering the final two scored events, the high jump and the 4x400-meter relay, and ended up coming away with a 5.5 point victory 189-183.5 over the Golden Eagles. The title gave the Red Dragons the conference double at the time, since the women also captured the indoor title, which was also their first.
Oneonta came away with eight individual conference titles including the high jump, with a personal best jump by sophomore Lucienne Ford, which was the event that put Oneonta in the lead to stay.
As had been the case all spring long, the Red Dragons dominated the middle and distance events and that championship weekend it was no different. Oneonta sent a clear message of their dominance, by taking five of the top six places in the 10K led by senior, Alyssa Drapeau. Junior Rachael Shine duplicated her indoor performance from that winter by capturing a pair of conference titles. Shine doubled up and won both the 800 and 1,500-meter runs. Her time of 2:11.00 in the 800 was good enough to set a new conference record in the event. Mary Kate Bida claimed the SUNYAC title in the 5,000 meter run. She cruised to a winning time of 17:30.85 ten seconds ahead of the second place finisher from Geneseo.
Even though Oneonta showed their depth in the distance events, freshman Alicia Donaldson won the 100-meter hurdles to claim yet another individual title for Oneonta. The women didn't stop there as they claimed titles in other field events including the long jump by senior Kaitlyn Kieser who recorded a mark of 5.55 meters (18'2 ½"). The final SUNYAC title came from junior Meghan Serdock who reset her own school record again in the hammer throw. Serdock's heave of 54.49 meters (178'9") was five meters better than her second place competitor.
That day head coach, Posillico, concluded, "To be able to win our first outdoor championship on our home track, in front of our friends, family and college administration means the world to these women. They are so proud to be Oneonta Red Dragons and, as a coach, I couldn't have asked any more from them this weekend."
