ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University women's track & field team competed in a large indoor invitational on Friday evening, hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology, having a flurry of Top-10 individual finishes.
 
The Saxons were led by Madison Palmer (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) as she not only had two Top-5 finishes, but also broke her own school record for indoor shot put. She threw exactly 12.00m on Friday, beating her own record of 11.96m and edging out the fourth place finisher from Oswego State by one and a half inches. Palmer then took fourth in the weight throw, tossing 14.33m. In both events, Palmer has consistently thrown past the All-Atlantic Regional Indoor Track & Field Championship qualifying marks throughout her 2021-22 season, with the weight throw qualifying distance being 14.00m and shot put being 11.50m.
 
"Seeing Madison break her own record even before we get to E8's is always a fun and exciting time! It really shows how passionate and driven she has been since arriving at AU," Head Coach Dr. Angie Taylor said. "It was a great meet for our entire women's team as we had nine Top-10 finishes! Accomplishing that in any meet is a feat in itself, and to do that in such a large and talented field like what we saw on Friday, is really special."
 
Bianca Durso (Utica, NY/New Hartford Senior) also earned a third place finish on the evening as she led a trio of Saxons to Top-10 finishes in the long jump. Durso vaulted to a personal-best distance of 4.59m for third place. Annabelle Townsend (Woodsville, NH/Woodsville) also hit a collegiate best distance of 4.29m to tie for sixth place in the long jump. Olivia Chamberlin (Holland, NY/Holland) rounded out the strong long jump placings from Saxons with a distance of 4.17m for ninth place.
 
The Saxons had two fifth place finishes in other events on Friday evening. Sara Badeau (Canaseraga, NY/Canaseraga Central) had a five-way tie in the high jump, clearing 1.36m. McKenzie Hall (Hornell, NY/Hornell) ran a 3:22.79 in the 1,000-meter run as she followed three NCAA Division I athletes, two from Canisius College and the fourth place finisher from St. Bonaventure University. Hall was just behind the Bonnies runner's time of 3:22.46, making the finish in the race an exciting one for fans. Sarah Lutkins (Union Springs, NY/Union Springs) narrowly missed 10^th place as she ran a 3:47.37, just behind the Hamilton runner's finish of 3:45.85.
 
Ashley Page (Wayland, NY/Wayland-Cohocton) took seventh in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:07.18. Mari Jablonski (Monticello, GA/Jasper County) rounded out the top finishes for Alfred University with a time of 21:26.54 in the 5,000-meter run to finish in eighth place.
 
The Saxons will have one more regular season indoor meet before heading to Utica College for the Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field Championships on February 25 and 26. The last meet will be held at Nazareth College on Friday, February 18.