GENESEO, NY – The Alfred University women's track & field team competed in its first large-scaled outdoor meet of the year as the Saxons displayed multiple personal records and All-Atlantic Regional Track & Field Championship (AARTFC) qualifying marks on Saturday at SUNY Geneseo.
 
The Saxons were led by Madison Palmer (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) and Ana Ion (Bucharest, Romania/Episcopal School of Jacksonville) as both hit AARTFC Outdoor Championship-qualifying marks. Palmer also had the top individual finish of the day as she threw 12.03m in the shot put to pick up a second place finish. Although not a personal-best distance, it is Palmer's second outing in a row with a mark of 12 meters or higher. Ion joined Palmer in the shot put with a toss of 10.22m for 14^th place before she went on to earn her spot in the AARTFC Outdoor Championships to be hosted by Moravian University on May 18^th and May 19^th in Bethlehem, PA.
 
Ion finished sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 10.86m to earn her repeat trip to the regional meet. Saturday's meet was Ion's first track & field meet since last year's AARTFC's at St. John Fisher where she finished ninth with a hop-skip-jump of 10.99m. Annabelle Townsend (Woodsville, NH/Woodsville) followed Ion in the triple jump for a mark of 8.80m for 24^th place.
 
"The teams performed really well and we had so many personal-bests all around the track and in the field," Head Coach Dr. Angie Taylor said. "It was a very large meet with some incredible programs in attendance including schools from the D1 level. Today was our first real outdoor meet of the season as we had most of the team there and a lot of them were pretty close, if not farther, in terms of matching how the left last season so we are in a good place with our returners. Our new athletes had strong performances that fit well in the Empire 8 picture and we can build upon in the conference as well."
 
The Saxons ended the night with an exciting 4x400-meter relay as the team of Olivia Gilbert (Ontario, NY/Wayne Central), McKenzie Hall (Hornell, NY/Hornell), Morgan Brothers (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) and Sarah Lutkins (Union Springs, NY/Union Springs) combined for a time of 4:29.93 to finish second. They led the majority of the race but faced Oswego State's top 400 runner in the anchor and were edged out on the final 230 meters of the mile-long race.
 
AU's next best finish was at the high jump pit as Bianca Durso (Utica, NY/New Hartford Senior) took sixth place but could have been credited with a tie for third or sole-possession had the number of faults been different. Her height of 1.50m was the best for AU on Saturday as she neared her personal best height of 1.53m. Durso led a brigade of high jumpers and long jumpers as Ion and Sara Badeau (Canaseraga, NY/Canaseraga Central) followed in the high jump with height clearances of 1.45m and 1.40m, respectively. Ion took eighth and Badeau tied for ninth.
 
Durso also finished 17^th in the long jump with a vault of 4.74m, leading Anne Spila (Mechanicsburg, PA/Trinity) with her distance of 4.63m, Olivia Chamberlin (Holland, NY/Holland) and her jump of 4.20m and Townsend's 4.13m on Saturday.
 
Spila showcased a strong finish in the javelin as she finished 11^th with a throw of 25.86m, followed closely by fellow multi athlete, Durso. Durso's throw of 24.25m was good enough for 14^th place. Palmer and Mackenzie Grosskopf (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield) also had good throws with Palmer tossing a 20.51m mark and Grosskopf reaching 13.92m, having rushed over from warming up for the 200-meter dash. Palmer closed out the field events with a throw of 27.43m in the discus for 17^th place.
 
The 4x100-meter relay team of Spila, Badeau, Townsend and Page finished seventh with a time of 55.63. Another good team-up was in the 400-meter dash as three Saxons earned placings within the Top-25 finishers. Gilbert led the way with a time of 1:04.33 for 15^th place with Page right on her heels, in the same heat, finishing with a time of 1:04.53 for 18^th place. Brothers ran a 1:05.86 for 21^st place to close out a strong purple and gold performance in the event.
 
Palmer along with the Saxon men's throwers will return to SUNY Geneseo on Sunday to compete in the hammer throw as the massive amount of competitors and limited throwing space forced the events to take place a day later than the rest of the meet.