ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University women's track & field team competed at the Rochester Institute of Technology January Friday Meet for its second meet of 2023.
 
The Saxons were led by Nyah Solly (Colden, NY/Springville-Griffith Institute) in her first collegiate meet on Friday. She hopped-skipped-jumped a mark of 10.49m to defeat all of her competitors who were not listed as unattached, taking second overall.
 
Anne Spila (Mechanicsburg, PA/Trinity) had a standout evening on the track and in field events. She recorded her best finish on the track, finishing second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 10.22. She then went on to take third in the high jump with a height of 1.42m and then clocked a time of 2:47.27 in the 800-meter run to take 10^th. Natalya Ryckman (New Eagle, PA/Ringgold) followed Spila in the hurdles in sixth place with a time of 11.92.
 
"It was a great day to be a Saxon competing at RIT tonight as we watched many improvements from last week meet," Assistant Coach Beth Watson said. "We saw a lot of consistency and hard work, for the next couple of weeks, we are focusing on cleaning up our technique and execution as we continue to strive for our goals in the E8 Championships."
 
Sarah Lutkins (Union Springs, NY/Union Springs) had two top finishes on the track. She followed Ashley Page (Wayland, NY/Wayland-Cohocton) in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:07.70 for fifth place, behind Page's 1:05.46, fourth place finish. Later, she crossed the finish line behind teammate and friend, McKenzie Hall (Hornell, NY/Hornell) in the 1,000-meter run. Hall took fifth with a time of 3:27.44 and Lutkins clocked a 3:28.51 for sixth place.
 
Another duo of Saxons had back-to-back finish line crossings as Ashley O'Toole (Simi Valley, CA/Simi Valley) ran a 12:34.85 for eighth in the 3,000-meter run, just ahead of Sam Arthurs (Lynchburg, VA/E.C. Glass) in ninth place with her time of 13:32.03.
 
Mari Jablonski (Monticello, GA/Jasper County) closed out the top performances for AU with a third place finish in the 5,000-meter run, finishing with a time of 20:03.36 out of the field of three.
 
"Everyone who competed did a great job working through our training," Assistant Coach Sierra Wilson '22 said. "It's just the beginning and we have things to work on but we are continuing to see positive improvements."

The Saxons also took third in the 4x400-meter relay with the team of Page, Solly, Lutkins and Hall, finishing with a time of 4:32.08 to edge Brockport's 4:39.88.
 
The Saxons will next look to compete at SUNY Brockport. Multis will compete on Friday with the full meet occurring on Saturday, February 4. Friday's meet will start at 4:00pm while the full meet will kick off at 10:00am the following day.