Abdellatif And Rodriguez Pace Wildcats At Geneseo Early Season Invite

3/30/2024 9:27:00 PM

By: CONTACT: Tom McDermott, Director of Athletics Communications | tmcdermo@daemen.edu

GENESEO, N.Y. - The Daemen University women's track and field team opened its 2023-24 outdoor season by taking part in the Geneseo Early Season Invite held this afternoon on the campus of SUNY Geneseo.

A school-record effort by graduate student Tima Abdellatif (Grand Island, N.Y.) in the hammer throw highlighted the day for the Wildcats. Sophomore hurdler Alexis Rodriguez (Williamson, N.Y.) also turned in a solid day, as she placed third in the 400-meter hurdles and 12^th in the 100-meter hurdles.

HIGHLIGHTS

Abdellatif picked up where she left off last spring when she placed first in the hammer throw at the East Coast Conference Championships with a school record toss of 41.18 meters. She broke her own school record today, as she placed sixth out of 41 entrants with a toss of 43.25 meters.
Rodriguez placed third out of 22 in the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 1:07.47, which ranks as the second fastest time in program history and is just shy of the program record (1:07.11) set by Kyra Kress in 2018. Rodriguez knocked five seconds off her previous best time of 1:12.01 she posted at last year's ECC Championships. Rodriguez also set a personal-best time in the 100-meter hurdles, as she placed 12^th out of 31 with a time of 16.54 seconds.
Graduate student Hannah Thomas (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) competed in the 800 and 1,500 meters and was the top Daemen finisher in both events. She placed 11^th out of 51 in the 800 with a time of 2:27.65 and finished 10^th out of 70 in the 1,500 with a time of 4:59.30. She came just three seconds shy of her personal best time (4:56.20) in the 1,500 she set at last year's ECC Championships.
Graduate student Courtney Merrill (Speedway, Ind.) posted a Top-20 effort in both the 800 and 1,500 meters. She placed 16^th in the 800 (2:31.18) and 13^th in the 1,500 (5:00.77).
Daemen had four competitors in the shot put, discus, hammer throw and javelin.
Sophomore Samantha Kabel (Alexander, N.Y.) was the top Daemen finisher in the discus, as she placed 18^thout of 56 with a personal best toss of 31.25 meters, which ranks as the sixth best effort in program history.
Junior Elizabeth Bentley (Belmont, N.Y.) was the top Daemen finisher in the shot put and the javelin. She placed 30^th out of 57 in the shot put (9.07 meters) and 20^th out of 35 in the javelin (24.34 meters)

UP NEXT
Daemen returns to action next Saturday (April 6) when it heads to Slippery Rock, Pa. to take part in the Dave Labor Invitational hosted by Slippery Rock University.

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.

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