GENESEO, NY – The Alfred University women's track & field team opened its outdoor season with a two-day meet at SUNY Geneseo for the Knights' Early Season Invitational on Friday and Saturday, with the majority of events taking place on Day Two.
 
The Saxons totaled four performances that reached the top of the Empire 8 schools list, early in the season. First-year Delaney Prather (North East, PA/North East) is ahead of the rest of the Empire 8 javelin throwers by 4.7m as she broke the record of 32.41m (106'-3.98") set by Catherine Hoffman in 2006. Prather threw 34.23m (112'-3") to finish third on Saturday, just missing All-Atlantic Regional Track & Field Conference (AARTFC) Outdoor Championships' qualifying mark of 34.50m, but qualified for the Empire 8 Outdoor Championships. Her second throw of the evening was the first one to break the record, throwing 32.71 (107'-3"). Prather upped the record two more times before settling at the 34.23m mark.
 
"It was a bummer that the team couldn't get out to Houghton last week to begin our outdoor schedule but there's nothing we can do about the weather. Our ability to persevere and continue to find ways to improve ourselves really showed this past weekend," Head Coach Matt Phillips '10 said. "We not only saw our expected great marks from our veteran athletes, but saw a lot positive performances from our younger Saxons. The ceiling is high for all of them and they know it and they are trending upwards with their training and determination. As a coaching staff, we're very excited for the future."
 
Olivia Gilbert (Ontario, NY/Wayne Central) also finished third in her event and was second among Division III runners in the 400-meter dash, clocking in a personal best time of 59.51. She leads the Empire 8 by 3.2 seconds in the event. Anne Spila (Mechanicsburg, PA/Trinity) also was third overall and second among NCAA Division III opponents as she hit personal records, not just once, but twice in the 100-meter hurdles. She started out with a 15.71 in prelims to seed herself at the #7 spot for finals. Spila PR'd again with a time of 15.70 to finish third overall.
 
The final Saxon performance that landed on top of the Empire 8 list was McKenzie Hall (Hornell, NY/Hornell) and her time of 5:08.17 in the 1,500-meter run, passing E8 runners by one second.
 
All four legs of the 4x400-meter relay put forth personal best (or close to) splits as they combined for a time of 4:24.18, just ahead of Roberts Wesleyan and their time of 4:28.11. The group of Annabelle Townsend (Woodsville, NH/Woodsville), Spila, Sarah Lutkins (Union Springs, NY/Union Springs) and Bianca Durso (Utica, NY/New Hartford Senior) were just behind the A-team of SUNY Geneseo and their second place time of 4:20.87.
 
The Saxons will next compete at Susquehanna University on Saturday, April 6 at 9:00am.