FREDONIA, N.Y. - The Cortland men's cross country squad finished in fifth place out of 10 schools at the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships, hosted in muddy and sloppy conditions on the Fredonia State campus.

The Red Dragons posted a team score of 153 points, 17 ahead of sixth-place Oswego. Geneseo won its fifth straight league crown with 17 points, followed by Oneonta (58) and Brockport (82).

Junior Ryan Konotopskyj (East Amherst/Williamsville North) was Cortland's top individual finisher in 19th place out of 112 runners in 30:09.2 over 8,000 meters. Sean McAneny of Geneseo won the race in 28:28.2. Senior Grant Boyd (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) placed 38th in 31:10.8 and junior Cabel McCandless (Lindenhurst) finished 43rd in 31:19.6.

Senior Chris Thorpe (Pine Bush) and freshman Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) finished back-to-back in 47th (31:26.8) and 48th (31:30.3), respectively. Round out the Red Dragons' top seven were freshman Clayton Santiago (Bethpage) in 62nd place (32:12.7) and sophomore Brian Thurston (Long Beach) in 68th place (32:29.7).

Cortland will compete in the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regionals in Glassboro, N.J. on Saturday, Nov. 10 at noon, with the women racing first at 11 a.m.

Complete Results:
Men
Women
SUNYAC Photo Gallery

Coach's Corner - Comments from Cortland Head Coach Steve Patrick following SUNYAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships:

Going into the SUNYAC Championships today, Coach Naylon and I were thinking that if the ladies had a really good day, we might be able to steal third.  But we also knew that we could run well and be fourth or fifth! 

The most telling aspect of how today went for then women's team might be that two of our normal top five weren't scorers for us - one of them (Shayna Will) lost a shoe to the mud!  Our depth as a program was crucial today, as shown by the fact that our 6th and 7th runners displaced scoring runners on every team we beat.

We're really proud of the commitment the ladies showed during the race today to achieve a big step forward for the program!

The men's team had a pretty good performance today as well!  Ryan Konotopskyj had a great day (we thought that if he ran well he might be around 25th), and Grant Boyd made big moves after falling in the first mile to be our second finisher.  The top three teams in the conference are all deserving of a national rankings at this point in time, so while we aren't happy with the team finish, we do recognize that this is a step in the right direction for us to be where we want to be as a program.

I'd like to commend the staff at Fredonia for doing an excellent job of hosting the Championships under very challenging conditions.  I'd also like to thank the friends, family and alumni that made it to he race, as well as all the alumni who contacted us both before and after to cheer the team on!