RESULTS

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Ithaca College men's and women's Track and Field teams traveled to New York City to compete at the All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Championships. Just one week removed from the Liberty League Indoor Championships that saw the women defend their title and men take home fourth, both teams were able to rally and put a plethora of athletes on the podium at regionals and take home some new personal bests.

For the first time since 2023, the indoor AARTFC meet would be at The Armory, one of the fastest indoor tracks in the country, giving the Bombers a rare opportunity to compete on a banked track. 

It ended up being one of the runway events that set the tone for the Bombers on Friday. Junior pole vaulter Talia Hutchinson continued her monster season, jumping a one centimeter personal best of 3.92 meters for the win, putting herself ninth in the country ahead of the national championship. Senior Erin Eastwood broke into national contention, jumping 3.87 meters for second. This qualifies Eastwood for her first national championship, as she now sits 17th in the nation. This was also a 27 centimeter improvement from the Liberty League Championship just last week. Hutchinson and Eastwood were joined on the podium by their teammate, sophomore Teagan Kiger who jumped 3.57 meters for seventh place. 

The women were also able to snag some more points in the Pentathlon. Sophomore Cameron Ting scored 3241 points for second place. This was a personal best for Ting, as she set personal bests in three of the five events, including a 2:27.95 800 meter run. Senior Cecelia Labonte placed fourth with 3096 points, her highest career finish at an indoor AARTFC meet.

In the throwing cage, graduate student Lily Seyfert took home first place in the shot put, launching the shot 13.61 meters. Seyfert currently ranks 13th in the country, and is set to compete at the national championship next week. 

On the men's side, junior distance runner Elliott Painting was the highlight of the day with a personal best in the 5000 meter run of 15:05.71. Painting moved up throughout the race, closing in a 4:44 the final 1600 meters. Painting was able to grab a podium spot, placing 8th despite getting tripped up in the final lap. 

On day two, both teams were able to grab some more podium finishes to their totals. The women were led by senior captain Rachel Larson, who continues to be a national contender in the 60 meter hurdles. The two-time All-American and school record holder took home second place in a time of 8.56, out-leaning Geneseo's Jillian Ambler by one one thousandth. Larson is ranked fourth in the nation ahead of the national meet. 

Sophomore sprinter Aynisha McQuillar secured seventh place in the 60 meter dash, running 7.78 seconds. Seyfert also took home a seventh place finish on the second day of competition, throwing 16.06 meters in the weight throw. Junior Alexis Brown jumped 11.21 meters in the triple jump for sixth place. 

On the men's side, first-year jumper Quinten Lewis continued to have a strong postseason. After winning the Liberty League triple jump title last week, Lewis took home third place this weekend with a mark of 14.44 meters. Senior multi Matt Lokshin wrapped up his second day of competition in the Heptathlon, with a score of 4560 points. 

Both teams were able to finish the meet strong with podium finishes in the 4x200 meter relay. The women started things off with a third place finish and a time of 1:44.28. They were led by first-year Valentina Wallin, who anchored the team in a 25.32 final leg in her third race of the weekend. The men ran 1:30.00 and first-year Eddie Kennedy ran a monster third leg of 22.15 after dealing with a hamstring injury for the majority of the latter half of the season.

With things all said and done, the women took home second place with 70 points, just 12 points behind Geneseo. The men scored 12 points for 19th place. Both the men and women finished in the same position in the standings as last season. 

The indoor season will conclude next weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham Alabama. The two day meet will begin on Friday March 13 at 10 a.m.