On Jan. 24 the women’s track and field team competed at home to win the Gulden Invitational for the second straight year, easily ousting the field with eight individual wins and two relay wins on the day.

“I was really excited about how the team did overall. Everyone performed competitively and was supportive of one another. It was also a great opportunity to see the freshmen perform and further see what they are capable of. This meet truly showed just how strong the team dynamic is both on and off the track,” Kim Nagotko ’15 said.  

Nagotko once again performed strongly coming off a Patriot League Track Athlete of the week award, with wins in the 400-meter dash (57.11 ECAC) and the 200-meter dash (25.20 ECAC).  

“I was pretty happy with my performance this past weekend … That being said, I know there is a lot of room for improvement in each and I look forward to developing the skills needed to be successful in each event,” Nagotko said.

Jenn Silvestri ’16 also recorded an ECAC qualifying time in the 500 meter race, winning the event in 1:16.55. In the 60-meter hurdles, Kafilat Oladiran ’18 earned a top finish for the Bison with a time of 8.91.  

The Bison also dominated in the longer distance events. In the 800, Reagan Cerney ’17 took first in 2:19.85, followed by Morgan Roche ’15 and Grace Loh ’17 in second and third. Sarah Chandler ’17 earned first place in the 1000-meter run (2:58.92), while Katie Jessee ’15 and Christine Bendzinski ’18 went one-two in the mile. In the 3000-meter, Kate Scott ’17, Deanna Godby ’16, and Montana DiPietrantonio ’15 swept the top three spots easily for the Orange and the Blue. Meghan Carroll ’16 and Brennan Sharkey ’18 also took second and third in the 5000-meter run.  

In the field events, Jenna Calandro ’18 led the way to her second home victory by clearing 11-03.75 in the pole vault. She was followed by teammates Yanelis Mestre ’15 and Rebekka Vuojolainen ’15 in the second and third spots. Abigail Brundage ’16 took third in the shot put for the Bison, and Lauren Hudson ’18 earned a third place finish in the high jump to round out the Bison team victory.  

On Jan. 30-31 the squad will compete in two separate events: the Bison Open and Multi and the Penn State National Invitational.

“We’re about a month away from Patriot Leagues so mainly [we need to work on] just keeping that in mind and staying focused on reaching goals and hitting marks in order to be successful during our championship,” Nagotko said.