ALFRED, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's outdoor track and field team saw its members place either first or second in 12 separate events en route to sitting atop the final standings at today's Alfred State Invitational held at Pioneer Stadium in what was the Wildcats' 2016 outdoor season opener. The result today marked the first time in the team's brief five-year history that they've finished a scored meet in first place.
Freshman
Kyra Kress (Wayland, N.Y./Alfred-Almond Central) did the most damage for first-year head coach
Paul Lagno's squad today. Kress accounted for a team-best 20 points individually after scoring wins in both the pole vault (2.90 meters) and 400 meter hurdles (1:13.68). In addition, Kress anchored Daemen's 4x400 meter relay team which also placed first with a time of 4:25.01, joining fellow relayers
Tiffany Cycon (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster),
Rachel Roberson (Tonawanda, N.Y./Sweet Home) and
Lindsey Wood (Newfield, N.Y./Newfield).
Cycon, also a freshman, had a heckuva day as well, racking up 18 points individually by winning the 200 meter dash (28.57 seconds) and placing second in the 100 meter dash (13.40 seconds). In addition to her her role on the earlier mentioned relay team, she anchored DC's 4x100 meter relay team which also took first. That squad featured Cycon, Roberson,
Sam Carro (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) and
Leah May (Palmyra, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon).
Daemen also picked up a race victory from superstar long distance runner
Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) who wasn't expected to compete today. She did compete, and compete well, winning the 5000 meter run with a time of 18:42.84.
Additional event wins came from May and
Ashley Krol (Depew, N.Y./Depew) in the long jump and triple jump, respectively. May's long leap of the day carried 4.63 meters, while Krol triple-jumped her way some 9.71 meters.
Additional runner-up finishes came from the afore-mentioned Roberson (400 meter dash: 1:04.49) and Carro (100 meter hurdles: 17.72 seconds), as well as from
Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) in the 1500 meter run (5:16.19) and from
Carrie Akin (Akron, N.Y./Akron) in the triple jump (9.18 meters).
In throwing events, freshman
Ellory Roberts (Lowville, N.Y./Lowville) totaled 12 points with top-seven finishes in the shot put, javelin, discus and hammer throw.
Daemen is back in action at the ROC City Classic hosted by Nazareth College on Saturday, April 9.
