May 26, 2019

SUNYAC athletes perform strong in 2019 NCAA DIII Outdoor Track & Field Championships

GENEVA, OH - Several State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) student-athletes from eight schools put on strong performances to cap off their 2019 season in this year's NCAA DIII Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Ohio, which took place from May 23 through May 25. Below are summaries of how the student-athletes performed. The summary for each institution's athlete(s) comes courtesy of that institution's Sports Information Department.

Brockport

Brockport men's and women's track and field teams competed in day one of the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday afternoon. Four of the Golden Eagles' six athletes competed throughout the day including Maya Reina, Kelcey Watson, Egypt Page and Allison Miller.

Men

Egypt Page was the solo competitor for the men's team in the long jump where he finished 14th overall with a mark of 7.05m.

Women

Maya Reina and Kelcey Watson started day one representing the women's team in the pole vault. Both athletes put up strong performances, Reina notching 11th with a mark of 3.75m and Watson 16th with a mark of 3.65m.
Jess Craven followed in the discus throw, her first event of the weekend. The senior grabbed 14th overall with a mark of 40.91m.
Allison Miller closed out the afternoon for the women's team in the 3000m steeplechase prelims with a 12th place finish of 10:59.36.

Saturday afternoon in the final day of the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Jess Craven, Joe Weaver and Allison Miller were the final three athletes to compete; participating in the hammer throw, pole vault and 3000m steeplechase respectively.

Men

Weaver was the second to grab a top ten finish on the weekend in the pole vault. The freshman finished the weekend for the Green and Gold in ninth-place with a mark of 4.75m.

Women

Miller had the most impressive outing of the day in the 3000m steeplechase where she notched the top 10. The junior's time of 11:06.22 not only secured her eighth-place but also grabbed her All-American status in the event.
Craven closed out her senior season in the hammer throw where she placed 18th overall with a mark of 46.71m.

Buffalo State

Buffalo State freshman Nisa Raqib (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) officially concluded the 2018-19 Buffalo State Athletics seasons today with a ninth-place finish in the triple jump at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships this afternoon at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Raqib, a health and wellness major, posted a distance of 12.03 meters in her second-consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championship meet to claim a ninth-place finish. Her mark missed out on a top-8 finish, in order to earn All-America honors, by only .15 meters. The national champion in the triple jump posted a mark of 12.52 meters.

With today's meet, Raqib closed out a freshman campaign that was highlighted by a SUNYAC Outdoor Championship title in the triple jump to go along with earning All-American honors as the runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. She posted a school record distance of 11.91 at the Indoor Championships to become Buffalo State's first women's track and field All-American since 2016.

Cortland

Cortland junior Kelly Gardner (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North), senior Maya Campbell (Valley Stream/Valley Stream South), freshman Steffany Batista (Spring Valley/Ramapo) and freshman Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay during the final day of competition at the NCAA Division III Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The Red Dragons finished the race, which consisted of nine teams, in 47.73 seconds. Loras won the event in 46.30 seconds. The top eight finishers in each event are All-Americans. The finish is the first women's outdoor relay All-America showing by the Red Dragons since both the 4x100 (Stephanie Bailey, Kerri Gannon, Crystal Hirsch, Kissie Pringle) and 4x400 (Sarah Spiecher, Mirriah Vitale, Gannon, Pringle) relays each finished in eighth place in 2002.

In addition, Campbell finished 12th in a field of 22 in the triple jump with a distance of 11.83 meters (38' 9.75"). She reached that mark on her third and final attempt after covering 11.70 meters on each of her first two tires. She missed advancing to the finals by about eight inches. Eka Jose of Washington-St. Louis won the title at 12.52 meters (41' 1").

Cortland, by virtue of its one team point from the relay, tied for 75th place out of 147 competing schools in the final team standings. Loras won the team title with 53 points, followed by Washington-St. Louis with 49.

Meanwhile, junior Micah Assibey-Bonsu (Central Islip) earned All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump to highlight Cortland's performances during the final day of action at the NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Assibey-Bonsu barely missed breaking the school record in the event with his personal-best distance of 15.11 meters (49' 7"), which he achieved on his third and final attempt of the opening round. The school record of 15.13 meters (49' 7.5") by Mark Therrien has stood since the 1983 season.

Assibey-Bonsu finished sixth out of 20 competitors to earn All-America recognition, which goes to the top eight finishers in each event. Yorai Shaoul of MIT won the title at 15.43 meters (50' 7.5"). Assibey-Bonsu was the national runner-up in the triple jump at the NCAA indoor championships this past winter.

Sophomore David Bernstein (Norwich) finished 12th out of 20 in the hammer throw at 54.99 meters (180' 5"), which came on his second attempt. Zak Dysert of Baldwin Wallace finished first at 62.01 meters (203' 5.5").

Senior C.J. White (Middletown) was 16th in the triple jump with an effort of 14.32 meters (46' 11.75"), a distance he reached on his first attempt. White was making his third overall NCAA appearance and first outdoors.

Freshman Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley), battling an injury, tied for 17th in the pole vault at 4.60 meters (15' 1"). Sorensen was one of six competitors between the 13th and 18th finishers to clear that height, with number of misses determining his final placement as he cleared 4.45 meters on his second attempt and 4.60 meters on his third try. Zach Jasinski of Wisconsin-Whitewater won the national title at 5.25 meters (17' 2.75"). Sorensen finished 12th in the pole vault indoors this past winter.

Cortland finished the meet with three points to tie for 64th place out of 141 competing schools.

Fredonia

Blue Devil junior Gus Alvarez Jr. finished 13th in a field of 20 -- up two spots from his pre-meet seeding -- when he cleared 4.60 meters (15 feet, 1 inch) in the men's pole vault.

Alvarez, Fredonia's lone representative at the national meet, passed at 4.45 meters before clearing 4,60 on his first attempt. He missed all three attempts at 4.75 meters, which turned out to be the heighth needed for a spot on the podium. Five men cleared 4.75 before Wisconsin-Whitewater's Adam Schommer was awarded eighth place based on fewer misses in the competition.

In the end, two men vied to become national champion with Whitewater's Zach Jasinski (5.25 meters / 17 feet, 2 3/4 inches) defeating Wisconsin-Stout's Noah Zastrow (5.15 meters / 16 feet, 10 3/4 inches).

Geneseo

Ten members of the Geneseo track & field program competed at the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships as six Knights earned All-America honors. Senior Elise Ramirez, junior Genny Corcoran and the Knights' 4x400 relay team comprised of senior Erin MacDougall, sophomore Kayla Barber and first-years Madison Mulder were named All-Americans.

Ramirez finished second in the 5,000 with a time of 17:07.34 to earn her third All-America honor of the year after finishing an All-American seventh in the 5,000 during the indoor season and an All-American 25th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Junior Taylor Rettig also competed in the 5,000 and finished 15th overall (18:22.27), improving six spots from her 21st seed.
Corcoran finished fourth in the 10,000 with a time of 36:13.26 for her second All-America honor of the year. She finished 20th in the NCAA Cross Country Championships this fall.
MacDougall, Barber, Mulder and Flaitz each earned their second All-America honor with a sixth-place finish in the 4x400 (3:47.55). The quartet took seventh in the 4x400 at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
MacDougall also competed in the 400 hurdles, finishing 12th while fellow senior Hannah Madden took 22nd in the event.
Junior Zachary Curran took 10th in the pole vault, clearing 4.75m on his third attempt, while junior Sean McAneny finished 13th in the 1,500 with a time of 3:58.44.

Men's Team Finish - t-77th of 141
Women's Team Finish - t-14th of 147

Thursday, May 23

Men's 1,500 Prelims
13. Sean McAneny 3:58.44

Women's 400 Hurdles Prelims
12. Erin MacDougall 1:03.04
22. Hannah Madden 1:09.78

Women's 4x400 Relay Prelims
6. Anna Flaitz, Madison Mulder , Kayla Barber, Erin MacDougall 3:50.10 (QUALIFIED FOR FINALS - 2nd fastest in program history)

Women's 10,000 Final
4. Genny Corcoran 36:13.26 (ALL-AMERICAN)

Saturday, May 25

Men's Pole Vault Final
10. Zachary Curran 4.75m/15' 7"

Women's 5,000 Final
2. Elise Ramirez 17:07.34 (ALL-AMERICAN)
15. Taylor Rettig 18:22.27

Women's 4x400 Final
6. Flaitz, Mulder, Barber, MacDougall 3:47.55 (ALL-AMERICAN)

Oneonta

Oneonta senior Tyler O'Bryant (New York/Ellenville) closed out a tremendous final season with his best day on the track today with a pair of All-American performances in the 100 and 200-meter dashes at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field championships in Geneva, OH. The two honors were his first outdoor honors to go with his one indoor honor from 2018 in the 60-meter dash.

O'Bryant's journey began on Thursday in the preliminaries of the 200 where he ran a time of 21.53 seconds to qualify for today's final. O'Bryant then competed in the prelims of the 100 on Friday qualifying for today's final with a time of 10.58 seconds.

First up for O'Bryant today was the final of the 100. In a fast final, O'Bryant crossed the finish line in 10.37 seconds, which was a personal best time for him. The time was also the second fastest time in program history.

A little more than an hour later, O'Bryant took to the track to compete in the 200. In the race, he ran a personal best time of 21.24 seconds to finish fifth, but the winner of the race was disqualified, moving him up one spot to a fourth place finish. His time in the event was the third fastest time in program history.

With his two finishes, O'Bryant is the first track athlete to claim a pair of top-8 finishes at one national championship since 2013 when Sean Bernstein completed the feat in the same two events including a national championship in the 200.

Oswego

Sarah Yensan, of the women's track and field program, finished among the top-20 long jumpers in the nation on Thursday afternoon at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Yensan began the competition with a leap of 5.38 meters (17' 8") in her first jump.
In both her second and third attempts, she went 5.45 meters (17' 10.75") to finish tied for 20th in the nation.
The junior from Lockport , N.Y. was the 2019 SUNYAC long jump champion and set a new school record at last week's Atantic Region Outdoor Track & Field Championships with her leap of 5.74 meters (18' 10").
She has improved her distances each year on the team from 5.37 meters (17' 7.5") in her freshman year, to 5.68 meters (18' 7.75") as a sophomore and 5.74 meters (18' 10") this season.
For her efforts, she earned All-Conference and All-Region accolades during the year.

Plattsburgh

The Plattsburgh State women's track and field 4x400-meter relay of junior Elisabeth Plympton(Plattsburgh, N.Y. / Beekmantown), sophomore Janyll Barber (Dannemora, N.Y. / Saranac Central), junior Taylor Canet(Peru, N.Y. / Peru) and junior Marissa Jones (Sauquoit, N.Y. / Sauquoit Valley) made their NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship debut on Thursday.

The relay was seeded 16th but moved up and finished 13th overall with a time of 3:52.59. Barber also made her NCAA Division III outdoor track and field championship debut in the 400-meters hurdles. She went in ranked 21st and finished 16th with a time of 1:04.02.

Junior Marissa Jones (Sauquoit, N.Y. / Sauquoit Valley) of the Plattsburgh State women's track and field team competed in the 400-meters at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship on Friday. Jones finished 13th overall with a time of 56.82 seconds after competing in the 4x400-meter relay on Thursday who finished 13th as well.

Meanwhile, freshman Victoria Whimple (Castleton, N.Y. / Maple Hill) of the Plattsburgh State women's track and field team earned All-America status in triple jump on Saturday at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Whimple finished seventh overall with a jump of 12.23 meters (40' 1.5") which also breaks her own program record. Whimple is the fist women's outdoor track and field All-American in a field event since Heather Myrick in triple jump in 1993.