Both the Ithaca College men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams raised the curtain on the 2015 season with a stellar performance at the Greg Page Relays on Dec. 5 hosted by Cornell University at Barton Hall. Both squads had a combined total of 12 individuals along with one relay meet qualify for Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference standards.
Junior Katherine Pitman broke the college’s record in the pole vault as she sprung for 3.80 meters. The previous mark in the event was set last winter when then-junior Alex Rechen went for 3.72 meters Feb. 20 at the Bomber Quad. Pitman also won the event and reached ECAC caliber in the process.
Rechen also met the standards in the pole vault on Saturday. The senior finished fourth out of 20 competitors with a mark of 3.45 meters.
Sophomore Taryn Cordani qualified for the ECAC in the 5,000 meter run with her first-place time of 17:38.52. Six Bombers comprised the top-eight finishers in the event.
Juniors Brandy Smith and Yvonne Palacios also met ECAC requirements with their respective marks of 15.98 and 15.01 meters in weight throwing. Smith and Palacios finished fourth and seventh, respectively.
In the 500-meter dash, sophomore Sophia Feuer crossed the finish line with an ECAC-qualifying time of 1:20.30. Feuer’s time was good enough to land her eighth place among 32 opponents.
Freshman Gianna Folz led the way for the Blue and Gold in the long jump with her 5.23-meter leap, which earned her ninth place that afternoon. Folz’s top-10 finish qualified her for ECACs.
The successful day for the women’s team continued on the relay side. The South Hill squad’s 4×800-meter relay team — seniors Anna Fay and Rachelle Sartori, junior Kristin Lynn and freshman Emilie Mertz — met the requirements for ECACs with their fourth-place time of 9:54.84, behind Syracuse University’s time of 9:47.61.
As for the men’s squad, five Bombers concluded the day as ECAC qualifiers. Sophomore Tim Chappell qualified with a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter run, which was the highest finish among his teammates. Senior Sawyer Hitchcock met ECAC standards in the event as he clocked in with a time of 15:22.44.
Senior Andrew Brandt was the college’s top performer in the high jump. Brandt finished in eighth place after clearing the bar at 1.99 meters.
Along with matching the ECAC requirements, seniors De’Marquis Malone and Aaron Matthias set career bests in the long jump with their measurements of 6.71 and 6.83 meters, respectively.
The women’s team will look to keep the magic rolling when it returns to Cornell’s Barton Hall at 4 p.m. Jan. 8 for the Southern Tier Collegiate Open. The men’s squad will return home for its second meet at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 9 for the Ithaca Blue & Gold Alumni Track and Field Meet at Glazer Arena.
