Albany, NY– Russell Sage College's women's and men's indoor track and field team under the guidance of head coach Nick Jones, have qualified individuals for the 2022 All-Atlantic Track and Field Conference Championships at Nazareth College on March 4-5. This marks the first time the Gators will have competitors competing at the event as RSC is only a second-year program. The Gators have had a number of significant feats this season as they have week in and week out rewritten the record book this year, while earning acclaim from the Empire 8 along the way as several performers have earned Track Athlete of the Week citations.
The meet commences on Friday afternoon as junior captain John Coddington (Amsterdam, NY/Broadalbin-Perth) will compete in the shot put. A runner-up at the Empire 8 Championship, Coddington will look to improve upon his performance in the event after he posted a toss of 14.75 meters last week. RSC's record holder in the weight throw, Coddington will compete in the event on Saturday as he looks to also improve upon his school record effort of 15.81 meters set last week when he also took home second place in the event at the Empire 8 Championship.
Head Coach Nick Jones commented about John, "He has had a tremendous season with breaking his school records in both the shot put and weight throw in nearly every meet this season." He continued, "We look forward to him competing at his first All- Atlantic Region Track & Field Championship on Friday and Saturday after coming off a pair of second place finishes at Empire 8 Championship, where he scored 16 points for the team."
RSC's senior Natalie Ricci (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) will compete in the 200 meter dash on Saturday. At last week's Empire 8 Championship, she broke her own school record time in the event as she ran a 26.45 in the event and finished in fifth place at the championship. Her race is slated 1:15 p.m. on March 5.
Jones noted, "Natalie has continued to impress, setting program records nearly each week she has competed." He continued, "She has really started to sharpen up the past few weeks and I look forward to a tremendous performance at the Regional Championship as she will focus on the 200m."
Also competing at the championship is rookie Amelia Geesler (Glenmont, NY/Bethlehem Central) as she will run in the 400 meter dash on March 5 at noon. At the Empire 8 Championship, Geesler took sixth place in 1:02.08. Earlier in the season, she broke the school record with her AARTFC qualifying time of 1:01.77 while racing at the Boston University Valentine Invitational.
"Amelia has had a strong start to her career at Sage having set the school records in the 400 meter dash, but also competing for us in some relays," added Jones. "I am excited to see her succeed this weekend at the meet as runs on Saturday."
Rookie David Adadjo (Nassau, NY/Columbia) will run in the men's 400 meter dash on March 5 at 12:20 p.m. The school record holder in the event with a time of 50.13, Adadjo also holds Sage school records in the 60 meter dash, the 200 meter dash and is also part of the record holding Gator 4 x 200 meter relay foursome (1:44.82).
Jones remarked about Adadjo, "David has really impressed during his first year at Sage." He added, "He really shined last weekend at the Empire 8 Championship scoring 12.25 points for the team in four different events. We are looking forward to him focusing on the 400m this Saturday at the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Championship."
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