SUNYAC champions crowned in track and field
Fredonia had several SUNYAC champions crowned at the SUNYAC Indoor Track & Field championship meet. Two resulted in new school records.
Laura Morrison (Wethersfield, Conn./Wethersfield) won the 800 meters in 2:15.87 while Lauren Kotas (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) won the 3,000 meters in 10:18.29. The winning time by Kotas set a new school record, replacing Jennifer McNerney's 10:18.34 set in 1990.
Morrison also earned points for her team as part of the fifth-place 4-by-400 relay. She combined with Anna Dambacher (Divernon, Ill./Auburn), Bonnie Binggeli (Walworth, N.Y. / Gananda), and Brittany Feldman (Jamestown, N.Y./Southwestern) for a time of 4:05.76, third-fastest in program history.
Feldman was a scorer in two individual events. She finished sixth in the high jump (5 feet, 1 inch) and seventh in the 400 meters (1:00.50). Dambacher was also seventh in the 200 meters (:26.41) while Hailey Griewisch (Dunkirk, N.Y./Dunkirk) moved up to sixth in the 60-meter hurdles (:09.59); she was seeded eighth heading into the final with a personal-best qualifying time of 9.43 seconds.
Two Blue Devils earned points in the 20-pound weight throw. Heather Rickman (Brockport, N.Y./Brockpor) finished fifth with a personal-best 47 feet, 9.75 inches – No. 6 on the Fredonia all-time performance list. Nicole Desens (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./Arlington) was sixth.
Desens won the women's shot put and Olivia Kurbs (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) broke the team pole vault record during Friday's competition. In addition, Desens was the third-highest scorer among all women field athletes with 13 points. Morrison earned 12 points in running events, ninth most in the meet.
Zakk Hess (Newark, N.Y./North Rose - Wolcott) sought two SUNYAC Indoor Track & Field championships. He narrowly missed one, yet got the other.
The senior distance runner followed up his second-place finish in the men's 5,000 meters with a rousing win in the men's 3,000 meters. His winning time of 8:29.31 set a new facility record at Brockport's Special Events & Recreation Center.
In addition, Hess shaved .71 of one second off his own school record – set last weekend at Cornell.
