Houghton, NY— The Sage Colleges' women's outdoor track and field team opened action on Friday evening at the 2019 Empire 8 Track and Field Championships on Friday on the campus of Houghton College. The two-day event will wrap with the crowning of the league's men's and women's team champions as well as individual champions in 18 events on Friday and another 28 events.
Sage's teams are directed by rookie head coach David Taranto and assistant coach Spencer Patterson. New to the programs this spring, this pair has helped the Gator men's and women's team break school records in 11 different events, while some events have had their school marks broken multiple times already.
The trend continued for the Gator women on Friday as the Gators broke the school record in the 4 x 800 relay as they finished in sixth place in 10:55.41 behind the work of sophomore Sevi Travis (Cohoes, NY/Shaker), rookie Kristin McAlonen (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), senior co-captain Sagan Leggett (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane), and senior co-captain Victoria Opalka (Fort Johnson, NY/Broadalbin-Perth). The Gator foursome shattered the school record of 11:29.47 from the 2018 Empire 8 Championship.
In the 10,000 meter run, Flower finished in fifth place with a time of 40:41.41, while McAlonen finished 10th in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 13:18.34.
Junior Skylar Van Alstyne (Castleton, NY/Maple Hill), who owns the school records in the shot put, discus, and javelin picked up seventh in the javelin with a throw of 26.43, while junior Victoria Fisher (Cazenova, NY/Cazenovia) picked up 11th in the event with a throw of 23.49 meter.
Junior Joanna Tavolaro (Broadalbin, NY/Broadalbin Perth) picked up 8th in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 18.16 in the trials and qualified for the finals on Saturday. She also picked up 16th in the long jump with her mark of 4.26 meter.
In the 100 meter dash, rookie Shanice Dominick (New York, NY/Automotive) posted a time of 15.37 and was 17th but did not advance to the finals.
