The indoor track season kicked off on Saturday at Cornell Greg Page Relays in Ithaca. In his debut collegiate track meet, freshman Naseem Smith placed first in the men’s 60-meter hurdles after clocking in at 8.14 seconds. Smith was trailed by Jamil Adams (8.32), who finished in second place.

In addition for the men’s team, the Orange finished the 4×800-meter relay in 8:13.95 minutes, placing second behind Cornell. The relay team consisted of Chase Balick, Ryan Jermyn, James Proctor and Connor Preston. Balick also raced in the 500-meter, in which he timed a 1:10.60 and earned himself eighth place, while Austin Rucker (1:08.34) placed ahead at third.

The Orange women’s team saw more triumph in Ithaca, with two freshmen attaining first place. Shaleah Colaire (8.54) won the 60-meter hurdles and Dennisha Page (7.50) for the 60-meter dash. Senior Aviana Goode (8.74) lagged behind Colaire and placed third in the 60-meter hurdles, while Aja Davis (7.56), a fellow freshman, placed second right behind Page in the 60-meter dash. 

Sarah Eddy (1:21.79) also showed a strong performance by placing third in the 500-meter race for the Orange, and for long distance, Kate Kemnitz (10:31.81) placed second in 3000-meter dash. 

Splitting their roster in two, the Orange also ran in the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University. SU ran long distance races, but didn’t perform as well as it did in Ithaca, with Jordan Jacob (16:28.27) placing 24th in the women’s 5000-meter and Alex Comerford (14:25) placing seventh in the third section out of five for the men’s section of the 5000-meter race.  

Both teams will not participate in any events for over a month, but will be back at Ithaca for the Southern Tier Collegiate Open on Jan. 11.