On Saturday, the Geneseo track and field squads traveled to Hamilton College for a non-scoring meet against some of the top Division III competition in central New York.
Due to the holiday weekend, only 39 athletes made the trip, but according to distance coach Mike Woods, the Knights performed admirably in all events.
On the women's side, sophomore Alyssa Smith led the way with her second Eastern College Athletic Conference-qualifying steeplechase finish. Smith won the 3,000-meter event with a time of 11 minutes, 52.93 seconds and, according to Woods, will likely to continue to dominate in this event.
"She's a workhorse, she works hard," he said, adding that Smith was still building up to the times she had last year and that he believed her times will continue to drop.
Woods also praised the performance of freshman Rachel Serpe, who took first in the pole vault with a height of 3.05 meters. "She continues to be one of our best athletes … she's a very talented vaulter," he said Serpe later was part of the 4x100-meter relay team that took fifth place.
Sophomore Jessica Jaroszko was second in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 16.43 seconds. Both Jaroszko and Serpe were among many Geneseo athletes who overcame the heat and strong headwind to turn in top performances.
Two Geneseo runners notched their first collegiate wins at Hamilton as graduate student Maggie Morris took the 800-meter race in a time of 2:23.29 and sophomore Alex Belensz won the 1,500 meters in 4:07.52. Freshman Tim Chambers was close behind Belensz, finishing in third with a time of 4:11.31.
Some more top performances on the men's side were seen in the throwing events. Senior Andrew Sorrento won the hammer throw with an ECAC-qualifying toss of 51.10 meters and junior Eric Rickman captured second in the shot put with a distance of 14.15 meters.
Next weekend the teams split up as the distance runners travel to Bucknell University, while the rest of the team competes at the University of Rochester. The Bucknell meet will feature top Division III distance competition including SUNY Brockport, SUNY Cortland and St. Lawrence University, as well as a host of Division I teams.