HOUGHTON, NY – The Alfred University women's track & field team opened its 2021-22 campaign at the annual Houghton College December Classic as the Saxons had nine Top-10 finishes on Friday evening.
 
AU was led by Madison Palmer (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) as she swept the throwing events with authority. She nearly defeated the entire field by two feet in the shot put as she qualified for the All-Atlantic Regional Track & Field Conference (AARTFC) Indoor Championships with a throw of 11.80m. She then punched another early ticket to AARTFC Indoor Championships, hosted by Nazareth College on March 4 and March 5 in the weight throw, this time defeating everyone by more than two feet, throwing 14.18m. Palmer currently owns both Alfred University records in those events with distances of 11.96m for shot put and 14.85m for weight throw.
 
"In the past, we typically haven't had a team that was this well-rounded between both field and track events and this is an incredibly great characteristic to have as a team going forward after such a strong start to the year," Head Coach Dr. Angie Taylor said. "It is wonderful to have Madison start the year so strong and determined and between her, the rest of our throwers and our jumpers, our field side of the team will continue to produce for us at such a high level, especially after seeing what we could do in a large meet with tough opponents. On the track, we had so many great performances and not just from our veteran Saxons, but also our new athletes. Overall, the coaching staff is very excited to see what we will accomplish at Utica and how we're going to continue to push ourselves over break before picking things back up in 2022."
 
Out of the nine Top-10 finishes, six of them were Top-5 finishes. Going along with Palmer's wins in the shot put and weight throws, Bianca Durso (Utica, NY/New Hartford Senior) had the next highest finish as she cleared 1.51m in the high jump, nearly tying for first had it not been for one extra fault at 1.51m. Ashley Page (Wayland, NY/Wayland-Cohocton) earned third place in the 600-meter run, easily winning her heat and establishing a time of 1:58.85, edging out a Buffalo State College runner and their time of 1:58.88.
 
McKenzie Hall (Hornell, NY/Hornell) had two Top-10 finishes with one being her fourth place time of 2:45.75 in the 800-meter run. She also ran a 6:04.21 in the mile for eighth place overall after winning her heat.
 
Hall and Durso were joined by Cassidy Philips (Pulaski, NY/Pulaski) and Morgan Brothers (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) in the 4x400-meter relay to close out the Top-5 finishes, earning the fifth place with a time of 4:47.36.
 
The 4x200-meter relay team of Page, Annabelle Townsend (Woodsville, NH/Woodsville), Megan Jones and Sara Badeau (Canaseraga, NY/Canaseraga Central) neared a Top-5 finish as they combined for a time of 2:07.77, earning sixth on Friday evening. Brothers rounded out the Top-10 finishes as she ran a 2:52.48 to follow Hall in the 800-meter run, claiming the 10^th place spot.
 
The Saxons will next travel to a two-day invitational at Utica College on Saturday, December 11 and ending on Sunday, December 12.