This past Saturday, April 13, the Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field teams competed in the 2019 Bronco Track and Field Classic at SUNY Delhi.

The annual event sees many upper New York State colleges and universities compete against one another with some having NCAA Division II programs and others, like Union, who compete at the Division III level.

The first competitor for Union was sprinter Anna Trancozo ’22, who competed in the 200 meter dash. Trancozo, a Political Science Major from East Windsor, New Jersey, completed her event in a time of 31.25 seconds.

This garnered her 16 place out of the 24 girls who competed in the event. Rounding out the last of the women’s sprint event was the 400 meter dash, which saw three Dutchwomen compete for the gold.

Distance runner Annie O’Donnell ’21 finished 11 out of the 13 competitors and ended with a time of 1:13.23. O’ Donnell is a Biomedical Engineering Major from Barnstable, Massachusetts and, in addition to the Outdoor Track and Field Team, is also a member of both the Union College Cross Country and Swimming and Diving teams.

Trancozo, competing in her second event of the day, placed ninth and finished with a time of 1:09.96. Leading the pack for the Dutchwomen, was Kaitlin Close ’19, an English Major from Schenectady, New York.

Close ran a 1:02.91 and secured a second place finish for Union in the 400 meter. The 800 meter signaled the beginning of the mid-distance events and saw two Dutchwomen compete for the coveted first place.

Finishing 20 out of 23 was distance runner Madelyn Cagnassola ’22. Cagnassola is a Biomedical Engineering Major from Fairfield, Connecticut and is competing in her first Collegiate season.

She finished with a time of 3:02.50, adding five seconds to her seed time of 2:57.21. Abigail Valachovic ’20, a Biology/Pre-Veterinary major from Webster, New York, garnered a time 2:45.81 and secured an 11 place finish for the Dutchwomen.

Leading the pack in the 800 Meter was Amanda Ashmen ’21, who finished in seventh place and ran a time of 2:40.91. Ashmen is a Computer Engineering Major from Voorhees, New Jersey and, in addition to the Outdoor Track and Field team is a member of Union Women’s Soccer team as well.

Starting out the distance event portion of the meet was the 1500 Meter Run which saw siix Union women compete for the win. Samantha Sotland ’22 scored a 23 out of 24 and ran a time of 6:29.37. In 22 place was teammate Sydney Rosensweig ’22, who finished with a time of 6:28.58.

Next was Cagnassola who finished in 20 place with a time of 5:56.39, an impressive near four second drop from her seed time of 6:00.19.

Valachovic ran it in a time of 5:27.70, and ended the race in 8th place. Samantha Miller ’19 and Amanda Ashmen ’21, ran times of 5:22.25 and 5:20.69. Miller placed seventh and Ashmen lead the team with a sixth place finish.

After the individual running events, began the relay races for the meet. The first team event was the 4×100 Meter Relay, and saw the Dutchwomen team of; Stephany Heiberger ’22, Annie Gee ’22, Anna Browne ’20 and Kaitlin Close ’19.

The team finished with a time of 54.58 and secured a third place spot. Union had two teams compete in the 4×400 Meter Relay.

Union’s ‘A’ relay was comprised of Browne, Gee, Miller and Close. They finished in second place and garnered a time of 4:31.71. Union’s ‘B’ relay was made up of Trancozo, Ashmen, Valachovic and Cagnassola.

The ‘B’ team secured a time of 5:09.61 and finished in sixth place. After the relays came the jumping and field events for the day.

Stephany Heiberger was the sole Dutchwomen in the Long Jump and tied for fourth place with a season-best distance of 4.40 meters. The triple jump saw much success for the Dutchwomen as all three jumpers placed in the top four.

Leading the pack was Gee who jumped a distance of 9.52 meters and scored a second place finish. Teammates Browne and Stephany Heiberger finished with distances of 9.45 and 9.52 meters and notched third and fourth places finishes respectively.

There was only one female competitor who participated in the throwing events for Union. O’Donnell participated in both track and field events for the day. She placed tenth out of 21 for the Javelin Throw and recorded a throw of 19.73 meters.

The next competition for the track and field team will be this Saturday, April 20. It is the annual Albany Spring Classic and is hosted by Union’s Capital District neighbor SUNY Albany. Then they face off at the RPI Capital District Classic the following weekend. The championships will be the weekend of May 3 and will be hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) as well.