ITHACA, N.Y. – Several school records were set today as the Daemen College women's indoor track and field team took part in the Robert J. Kane Invitational hosted by Ivy League member Cornell University at Barton Hall.  Today's competition marked the second straight year that Daemen has competed in this meet, and the team's third trip to Cornell overall in the last two seasons.
 
The headliner today was once again long distance runner Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora).  In her first appearance in the 3,000-meter run this season, Donahue topped the field of 23 participants.  The Wildcats' track star bested her own school record, finishing today's race in 10:04.21, shaving 10 seconds off her previous mark (10:14.08) which she set last year at the SPIRE North Coast Invitational.  Donahue won this event at the ECC Championship meet last season, in which she established a new conference benchmark (10:18.72) as well.
 
Sophomore Sydney McDonough (Alfred Station, N.Y./Alfred-Almond Central) smashed the previous school record (1:24.26) in the 500-meter dash by four seconds with a time of 1:20.25.  McDonough's strong showing was good for a fifth-place finish today. The previous record was set by Kailyn Szymanski on January 31, 2015 at the Continental Invitational.  Today's 500-meter record was McDonough's fourth of the season thus far, including records in the 300-meter, 4x200, and 4x400.  She was joined in the top-10 by teammate Kyra Kress (Wayland, N.Y./Alfred-Almond Central) who finished in ninth place with what would have been a new record time (1:23.97) had McDonough not come in ahead of her.  In field events, Kress added a sixth-place finish in the pole vault, clearing 3.00 meters.
 
Junior Brittany Denton (Oakfield, N.Y./Oakfield-Alabama), a middle distance runner, finished seventh overall in the 1,000-meter run, crossing the finish line in 3:09.87, while teammate Shania LiVecchi (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca West) placed eighth with a time of 3:12.70. 
 
Sprinting standout Tiffany Cycon (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) took a break from the shorter sprints this weekend, and competed in the 400-meter dash.  She finished seventh out of 24 entrants, sprinting the event in 1:01.99.
 
A trio of Wildcats posted top-20 finishes in the one mile race at today's competition.  Morgan Urbanek (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) paced the group, finishing seventh in a time of 5:43.56.  Julia Gaeta (Kenmore, N.Y./Kenmore West) and Emily Radford (Holley, N.Y./Holley) posted 12th (5:53.80) and 15th (6:20.15) place finishes respectively. 
 
The Wildcats return to Brockport next Saturday, February 18 to compete in the Golden Eagle Invitational at the Special Events Recreation Center.  Next weekend's meet marks the last outing before Daemen competes in the East Coast Conference Championships taking place the last weekend in February.
 
For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen men's and women's track and field teams, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenTRACK on Twitter.