ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University women's track & field team competed at Nazareth College's Tune-Up Invitational on Friday evening, a week prior to the Empire 8 Indoor Championships.
 
The Saxons were led by McKenzie Hall (Hornell, NY/Hornell) as she won the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:22.37, defeating runners from University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology and Fredonia with a field of six runners. "McKenzie having a race like that just before Empire 8's is such a boost to our energy and enthusiasm as we prep for the championships next week," Head Coach Dr. Angie Taylor said. "Our 4x400 relay along with Madison and Bianca in the field events also makes up very excited to know that we have depth across the board when we look towards the two-day meet."
 
The next top finish for AU was the 4x400-meter relay team of Ashley Page (Wayland, NY/Wayland-Cohocton), Hall, Olivia Gilbert (Ontario, NY/Wayne) and Morgan Brothers (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) as the group ran a combined time of 4:31.97 for fifth place.
 
In the field events, Madison Palmer (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) led the way with two podium finishes. She threw 14.50m in the weight throw (her own school record is 14.85m) to finish sixth while tossing a mark of 11.48m in the shot put for eighth place. Bianca Durso (Utica, NY/New Hartford Senior) missed the Top-8 due to one fault at her final height as she ended in ninth place in the high jump with a clearance of 1.46m.
 
The Saxons will next compete in the two-day Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Utica University on Friday, February 25.