ROCHESTER, NY – The outdoor track & field teams opened up their season on Thursday at the Redhawk Invitational, hosted by Roberts Wesleyan. It was a dual meet between the two teams, and a good opportunity to take advantage of the unseasonable weather conditions. The weather held up decently throughout most of the meet, and allowed several Highlanders to thrive in their first competition in several weeks.
Madison Palmer continued her purge of records, by throwing 11.70m in the shot put to beat the school record by just 5 centimeters, and win the competition. The previous school record was set by Priscilla Chamberlain in 1990. On the men's side,
Evan Kurtz won the long jump, in his debut for the event, and nearly set the school record in the 100m. His time of 11.16 sits fourth all-time in program history. He will look to beat Jerome Houston's mark of 11.12, from 2019, in meets to come. Similarly,
Victoria Brewster won the long jump, and the 100m, in a mark of 12.61.
"We simply desired to get some competitive reps in as early as we can. With Easter falling in a couple of weeks, it's very important we start to get some marks out there and reset our competitive mindset. I had fun with the team today, and I think they handled their business very well," remarked Coach Hager after the meet.
Other notable performances were
Rachael Smith and
Delaney Grant in the 5,000m. Grant set a massive personal best by 51 seconds, and Smith raced to an 8 second personal best. They alternated every other lap leading and following, and closed in an 89 second final lap, shoulder to shoulder pushing to the finish. Similarly,
Ben Allen ran a big outdoor 5,000m personal best (16:07), with the pacing help of
Caleb Kasper. In the 400IH, Katie Widmer ran a personal best for 2
nd place (1:13.52), and
Avery Belanger made his collegiate debut to win the event (60.96).
The Highlanders will compete at their home track for the first time since 2019 on Saturday, 3/23 in the Coach Smalley Invitational.
