AMHERST, N.Y. - Freshman thrower Toria Williams (Buffalo, N.Y./Medaille College) has been named first team all-conference as announced by the East Coast Conference today, stemming from her performance at the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at the Track and Field Complex on the campus of Georgian Court University in Lakewood, N.J last Saturday, April 19.

Williams became the first Daemen athlete to win an individual conference championship, doing so in the shot put with a toss of 11.10 meters in the finals.  Her dominance in the event included a throw of 12.21 meters in the preliminary round, a performance which was only outdone by Brittany Sepe of Molloy College (12.30 meters) who ended up finishing in third place.  Her first team all-conference selection today comes on the heels of a second team All-ECC performance during the indoor season, where she finished in third place in the same event at the ECC Indoor Championships held in February.

In addition to Williams' selection, five athletes earned second team all-conference honors, led by senior thrower Ashley Pinette (Rowley, Mass./Westfield State University) who was the only double-honoree for the Wildcats, earning the distinction in multiple events.  Pinette finished in third place in the hammer throw with a toss of 39.45 meters, setting both school and personal records in the process.  She added a fourth-place finish in the discus (32.71 meters) to account for her second selection.  The selections today marked the second straight year that Pinette has been so honored by the ECC after earning second team all-conference honors for the discus for the 2013 outdoor season.

Joining Pinette with second team All-ECC selections are fellow thrower Mariah Burkhard (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili), pole-vaulter Callie O'Connor (Alden, N.Y./Alden), long-distance runner Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) and middle-distance runner Brittany Denton (Oakfield, N.Y./Oakfield-Alabama).

Burkhard finished in fourth place in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 25.18 meters.  That came in addition to setting personal-bests in the shot put and hammer throws as well.  Her selection to the all-conference team gave the Wildcats an impressive four selections in the four throwing events, second only to Roberts Wesleyan's six.

O'Connor set a personal-best by clearing 2.90 meters in the pole vault competition.  That performance was good enough for a third-place finish by the rookie to account for her all-conference selection.

Donahue added a third-place finish in the 5,000 meter run after running a personal-best time of 18:52.04.  The all-conference selection today was the second of her young career already, having earned first team All-ECC honors for cross country last fall.

Denton led a trio of top-10 finishers for the Wildcats in the 800 meter run, finishing in fourth place with a time of 2:23.22 which set school and personal records.

The full list of all-conference performers is as follows...

Women's First Team
100 meter dash - Kaydian Jones, Dist. Columbia & Simone Grant, Dist. Columbia
200 meter dash - Kaydian Jones, Dist. Columbia & Simone Grant, Dist. Columbia
400 meter dash - Jerily Benjamin, Dist. Columbia & Rebecca Wright, Molloy
800 meter run - Rachel Hust, Roberts Wesleyan & Allison Borriello, St. Thomas Aquinas
1,500 meter run - Rachel Hutchinson, Roberts Wesleyan & Rachel Hust, Roberts Wesleyan
5,000 meter run - Megan Hulton, Roberts Wesleyan & Hannah Taft, Roberts Wesleyan
10,000 meter run - Kellie Lawton, Roberts Wesleyan & April Sablan, Roberts Wesleyan
100 meter hurdles - Stephanie Meyer, Molloy & Nicole Natland, Molloy
400 meter hurdles - Brianna Calderon, Roberts Wesleyan & Heidi Riegel, Roberts Wesleyan
3,000 meter steeplechase - Meaghan Ventarola, St. Thomas Aquinas & Rachel Brush, Roberts Wesleyan
4 x 100 meter relay - Dist. Columbia (Kaydian Jones, Shauna-Kay Creary, Jasmine Smith, Simone Grant)
4 x 400 meter relay - Dist. Columbia (Charmaine Sweeney, Jerily Benjamin, Marlena Wright, Kaydian Jones)
4 x 800 meter relay - Roberts Wesleyan (Rachel Brush, Kennedy Lewandowski, Rachel Hutchinson, Rachel Hust)
High Jump - Katie Gallagher, Molloy & Shanua-Kay Creary, Dist. Columbia
Pole Vault - Kasey Semmler, Roberts Wesleyan & Hope Olsen, Roberts Wesleyan
Long Jump - Simone Grant, Dist. Columbia & Kaydian Jones, Dist. Columbia
Triple Jump - Shanua-Kay Creary, Dist. Columbia & Stephanie Meyer, Molloy
Shot Put - Toria Williams, Daemen & Tatyana Calhoun, Dist. Columbia
Discus - Diane Etienne, Queens & Katy Perry, Roberts Wesleyan
Hammer - Victoria Houser, Roberts Wesleyan & Katy Perry, Roberts Wesleyan
Javelin - Brittany Sepe, Molloy & Casey Beckwith, Roberts Wesleyan

Women's Second Team
100 meter dash - Jasmine Smith, Dist. Columbia & Brittany Okon, Dist. Columbia
200 meter dash - Jerily Benjamin, Dist. Columbia & Shauna-Kay Creary, Dist. Columbia
400 meter dash - Gabriela Sloezen, St. Thomas Aquinas & Marlena Wright, Dist. Columbia
800 meter run - Rachel Hutchinson, Roberts Wesleyan & Brittany Denton, Daemen
1,500 meter run - Megan Hulton, Roberts Wesleyan & Keeley Bateman, St. Thomas Aquinas
5,000 meter run - Mackenzie Donahue, Daemen & Brittany Ward, Roberts Wesleyan
10,000 meter run - Hannah Taft, Roberts Wesleyan
100 meter hurdles - Jeania Bagley, Dist. Columbia & Ashley Andrews, Roberts Wesleyan
400 meter hurdles - Jeania Bagley, Dist. Columbia & Sharon Howell, Roberts Wesleyan
3,000 meter steeplechase - Cecelia Pfleging, St. Thomas Aquinas & Rebecca Rogers, Roberts Wesleyan
4 x 100 meter relay - Molloy (Stephanie Meyer, Katie Gallagher, Nicole Natland, Heather Van Patten)
4 x 400 meter relay - St. Thomas Aquians (Gabriella Sloezen, Catherine Sandkuhl, Gina Funaro, Allison Borriello)
4 x 800 meter relay - St. Thomas Aquinas (Keeley Bateman, Rebecca Fortoul, Jumana Khatib, Meaghan Ventarola)
High Jump - Ashley Mayer, Queens & Stephanie Meyer, Molloy
Pole Vault - Callie O'Connor, Daemen & Nicole Natland, Molloy
Long Jump - Stephanie Meyer, Molloy & Samantha Gabriel, St. Thomas Aquinas
Triple Jump - Samantha Gabriel, St. Thomas Aquinas & Breanna Lyn, St. Thomas Aquinas
Shot Put - Brittany Sepe, Molloy & Katy Perry, Roberts Wesleyan
Discus - Victoria Houser, Roberts Wesleyan & Ashley Pinette, Daemen
Hammer - Ashley Pinette, Daemen & Danely Rodriguez, Queens
Javelin - Sharon Howell, Roberts Wesleyan & Mariah Burkhard, Daemen