GRANTHAM, PA – The Alfred University women's track & field team had its three multi athletes compete on Friday at Messiah College prior to the full meet on Saturday.
 
Bianca Durso (Utica, NY/New Hartford Senior) led the trio with a third place finish in the heptathlon with 3,297 points. Ana Ion (Bucharest, Romania/Episcopal School of Jacksonville) was right behind with 3,288 points in fourth place while Anne Spila (Mechanicsburg, PA/Trinity) finished 16^th with 2,536 points.
 
Durso's biggest point-earning event as the high jump as she cleared 1.51m for 632 points. Her performance was good enough to tie for second in the event. She ran a time of 2:40.88 in the 800-meter run to close out the day with her second best scoring event, adding 563 points to her total. Durso had three events in the 400-point range with a top score of 481 in the 200-meter dash, finishing with a time of 30.02.
 
Ion also had strong performances in the high jump and 800. She totaled 534 points with her fifth-place-tying height of 1.42m and earned 531 points with her time of 2:43.76 in the 800. She neared a third 500-point event as she scored 490 in the long jump with a distance of 4.74m.
 
Spila unfortunately did not mark a height in the high jump but still managed a 500-point event, scoring 516 points in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.52 on Friday. Her 800-meter time of 2:47.90 was just below the 500-point mark as she added 486 points to her performance and first collegiate multi event.
 
"If you ask anyone who has ever done a multi event, they will tell you it's very demanding and draining," Head Coach Dr. Angie Taylor said. "Our three women did an excellent job today as it was Anne's first time competing in the heptathlon at the collegiate level, it was only Ana's second meet of the year and Bianca competed in a multi event during the indoor season. We definitely have a good starting look as these athletes will work to improve all seven of these events going forward, as they compete in four of these events at a time during our normal invitationals."
 
The three Saxons are joined by the rest of the team and the men's team as they will all compete in the full meet hosted by Messiah College on Saturday.