Women's Track and Field Athletes Receive All-Conference Honors

Selections include program record five All-ECC first teamers

5/27/2021 11:40:00 AM

By: By Joe Kraus, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

AMHERST, N.Y. – After an unprecedented year, the long months of preparation by the Daemen women's track and field team paid off as 10 individual athletes and two relay teams were named to the All-East Coast Conference First and Second Teams today. The selection of All-ECC athletes is based on individual finishes at the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championship meet which was held May 1 at Roberts Wesleyan College.

Kassandra Nolet (Fort Erie, Ont.), Sarah Golas (Alden, N.Y.), Betty Jones (Camillus, N.Y.), Alyssa Harrington (Tonawanda, N.Y.) and Paige Pavelski (East Aurora, N.Y.) headlined Daemen's honorees as each garnered All-ECC First Team recognition. The five first team selections mark the most in program history, surpassing the previous high of four selections set in 2018.

Nolet, a senior long distance specialist, received first team honors after she claimed medalist honors in the 5,000 meter run at the conference championship with a time of 18:19.87. At the time, it was Daemen's best 5,000 meter time since All-American Mackenzie Donahue posted a 17:15.80 at the 2017 ECC Outdoor Championships. Nolet has now earned All-ECC honors across all three running sports that she participates in for Daemen. She was an All-ECC Second Team selection in both cross country and indoor track and field (5,000 meters) during the 2019-20 academic year.

Golas, a junior long distance runner, received first team honors after she finished second overall in the 10,000 meter run (40:45.96). It was the first time in Golas' Daemen career that she competed in a race of that distance, and it also marks her first career All-ECC selection.

Jones, a senior thrower, picked up the third All-ECC honor of her career after placing first in the hammer throw. Her toss of 35.27 meters was a season-best and just three meters off her career-best effort (38.79 meters) for which she earned All-ECC Second Team honors in 2019.

Harrington, a freshman sprinter/jumper, claimed runner-up honors in the triple jump with a leap of 9.98 meters leading to her first team selection. Her classmate Pavelski, a thrower, gained first team accolades after winning the shot put competition with a toss of 10.82 meters - the first time a Daemen thrower posted a distance of 10 meters or better since Toria Williams in 2015. Harrington and Pavelski become just the fifth and sixth Daemen freshmen to earn All-ECC First Team honors, and the first to do so since Katja Meyer (triple jump) and Savannah Warner (800 meters) in 2018.

Junior Natalie Menz (Lyndonville, N.Y.) headlined a quintet of Daemen athletes that earned All-ECC Second Team honors. Menz showed her versatility at the 2021 ECC Championships by placing in the top four in two hurdling events as well as the javelin. She placed third in both the 100 meter hurdles (17.95) and 400 meter hurdles (1:22.98) and earned a fourth place finish in the javelin with a toss of 20.69 meters. She is only the second Daemen athlete to earn All-ECC honors in three separate events, and the first to do so since Ellory Roberts in 2016 (shot put, discus, hammer).

Additional All-ECC Second Team selections went to junior runner Amanda Bushway (East Aurora, N.Y.), senior sprinter/jumper Danielle Juby (Ilion, N.Y.), freshman jumper Sarah Adams (Batavia, N.Y.), sophomore thrower Skye Dorcely (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Pavelski. Bushway was the remaining honoree from track events. She placed third in the 400 meter dash with a personal-best time of 1:03.95.

In field events, Juby and Adams finished third and fourth, respectively, in the long jump. The veteran Juby (4.37 meters) edged the greenhorn Adams (4.35 meters) whose leap was a personal best. Dorcely placed third in the hammer throw with a personal-best toss of 33.22 meters, while Pavelski finished fourth in the discus (27.73 meters) to give the Wildcats five total All-ECC selections from throwing events.

Daemen's All-ECC nods were rounded out by a pair of relay squads that each earned second team honors. In the 4x100 relay, Juby and Harrington were joined by freshman Neissa Raymond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and senior Alexis Villarrubia (Rochester, N.Y.) in placing second with a time of 53.59 seconds. The Wildcats also placed second in the 4x800 meter relay as Bushway, Golas, Nolet and freshman Camryn Bailey (Geneva, N.Y.) posted a time of 10:42.76. Daemen had earned just one All-ECC selection for an outdoor relay team in the seven previous conference championship events.

The efforts of Daemen's All-ECC honorees helped the Wildcats equal their highest ever finish at the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championships as they placed second behind host Roberts Wesleyan.

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

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