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Geoff Schneider

Thomas, Schultz Pace Wildcats At Season Opening Houghton December Classic

Thomas Posts First-Place Effort In The 800 Meters

12/2/2023 9:04:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Tom McDermott, Director of Athletics Communications | tmcdermo@daemen.edu
HOUGHTON, N.Y. - The Daemen University women's track and field team opened its 2023-24 indoor season by taking part in the Houghton December Classic held Friday night (Dec. 1) at the Kerr-Pegula Field House on the campus of Houghton University.

A first-place finish by graduate student Hannah Thomas (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) in the 800-meter run and a third-place effort by sophomore Becca Schultz (Grand Island, N.Y.) in the 60 meter hurdles highlighted the evening for the Wildcats.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Thomas led from start to finish in the 800 meters and placed first out of 23 runners with a time of 2:25.43. She came just two seconds shy of her personal best indoor time (2:23.86) which she set at the East Coast Conference (ECC) Indoor Track & Field Championships last winter.
  • Schultz took part in three events. She qualified for the finals in the 60-meter hurdles after placing fifth out of 32 entrants in the qualifying round with a time of 9.53 seconds, just missing her personal best time of 9.51 she set at the ECC Championships last winter. She would go on to place third out of seven in the finals with a time of 9.60. Schultz also placed 11th out of 50 sprinters in the 60-meter dash with a personal best time of 8.16 seconds and finished 18th out of 30 entrants in the long jump with a personal best leap of 4.91 meters.
  • Thomas was one of five Daemen runners in the 800 meters and all five finished in the Top-10. Graduate student Courtney Merrill (Speedway, Ind.), junior Emma Cain (Lockport, N.Y.), sophomore Patsy Oberholzer (Greece, N.Y.) and senior Camryn Bailey (Geneva, N.Y.) all ran the 800 at an indoor event for the first time in their careers. Merrill placed second (2:31.67), Cain placed seventh (2:34.77), Oberholzer came in eighth (2:35.52) and Bailey finished 10th (2:35.77).
  • Sophomore Grace Gominiak (Darien Center, N.Y.) took part in the in 200 and 400 meters. She placed eighth in the 400 (1:10.21) and 23rd out of 41 in the 200 with a time of 30.18, just shy of her personal best time of 29.47.
  • Sophomore Alexis Rodriguez (Williamson, N.Y.) took part in the 60-meter hurdles and the 300 meters. She placed 13th out of 27 runners in the 300 meters with a personal best time of 44.87 seconds—less than a second shy of the school record (44.06) set by Nazjahe Boswell in 2019.
  • Sophomore Christa Oates (Tonawanda, N.Y.), a transfer from Medaille University, ran the 400 meters and placed seventh with a time of 1:09.06.
  • Junior Alyssa Amirato (Depew, N.Y.) posted a top-five effort in the triple jump, as she placed fifth out of 18 entrants with a leap of 10.54 meters.
  • Freshman Ileanna Hopkins (Syracuse, N.Y.) had a solid collegiate debut, as she placed fifth out of 15 entrants in the high jump with a leap of 1.47 meters.
  • Daemen had six competitors in the shot put and seven in the weight throw.
  • Junior Elizabeth Bentley (Belmont, N.Y.) placed eighth out of 46 entrants in the weight throw with a toss of 13.14 meters, coming just shy of her personal best (13.18) she posted at the ECC Championships last year. Bentley also posted a mark of 9.25 meters in the shot put, which ranks as her career best effort an indoor event.
  • Graduate student Tima Abdellatif (Grand Island, N.Y.) made her Daemen indoor debut and placed ninth in the weight throw with a toss of 12.74 meters. Sophomore Samantha Kabel (Alexander, N.Y.) placed 14th in the weight throw with a personal best toss of 12.15 meters.
  • Freshman throwers Kristen Oliver (Messena, N.Y.) Julia Petry (Batavia, N.Y.) and Grace Covey (Clarence, N.Y.) all made their collegiate debuts tonight. Oliver placed 10th in the weight throw (12.70 meters) and posted the best mark among Daemen throwers in the shot put (10.05 meters). Petry placed 19th in the weight throw (11.60 meters) and 22nd in the shot put (9.55 meters). Covey was 22nd in the weight throw (10.59 meters) and 39th in the shot put (7.76 meters).
  • Daemen's 4,000 distance medley relay team of Merrill, Bailey, Oberholzer and sophomore Hayley Pizur (Grand Island, N.Y.) placed second out of five teams with a time of 13:27.99.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats return to action next Saturday (Dec. 9) when they head Utica (N.Y.) University to take part in the Utica Holiday Classic. The teams were originally scheduled to take part in the SPIRE College Holiday Classic at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, but that event was canceled.
 

Daemen University 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.

Follow the Daemen women's track & field program on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @DaemenXCTF.
 
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