ITHACA, N.Y. and BROCKPORT, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team opened its season with competitors at the Cornell Greg Page Relays on Saturday and at the Brockport Alumni and Multi-Invitational Friday and Saturday.

The Red Dragons posted six All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying performances at Cornell, led by the 4x400-meter relay team of Connor Lewis (Glen Ridge), Austen Johnson (Jamestown), Richard Samuels (Wallkill) and Noah Serrette (Valley Stream/Lawrence) with a second-place time of 3:23.04 that as of late Saturday night was the best nationally in Division III.

Micheal Outing (Farmingdale) and Storm Malone (Highland) each hit qualifying marks in the 60-meter hurdles. Outing was third out of 24 competitors in 8.25 seconds and Malone was fourth in 8.30 seconds (8.26 in prelims). Both performances are early top-five efforts on the national charts.

Peyton Lalone (Ogdensburg/Ogdensburg Free Academy) placed sixth out of 43 sprinters in the 60-meter dash with an AARTFC time of 7.04 seconds. The other two qualifiers came in the triple jump. Micah Assibey-Bonsu (Central Islip) was sixth at 14.32 meters (46' 11.75"), which ranked second nationally Saturday night, and Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) was seventh at 13.43 meters (44' 0.75"), which ranked 10th nationally.

Dane Sorensen's (Warwick/Warwick Valley) sixth-place pole vault of 4.35 meters (14' 3.25") put him in a tie for fourth nationally on Saturday evening. In the 3,000-meter run, Cabel McCandless (Lindenhurst) finished third of 18 in 9:01.71 and Ryan Konotopskyj (East Amherst/Williamsville North) was fourth in 9:02.61, times that put them 13th and 15th on the early national rankings.

The 4x800-meter relay of Clayton Santiago (Bethpage), Samuels, James Forte (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) and Hunter Braun (Victor) finished first out of nine teams in 8:03.68. Samuels also finished fifth of 24 in the 500-meter dash in 1:06.12, followed by Ricky Castello (New Rochelle) in sixth (1:06.26).

Tyler Hochadel (Hamburg/Frontier) and Bryan Finn (Fonda/Fonda-Fultonville) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, out of 19 in the shot put. Hochadel recorded a distance of 13.05 meters (42' 9.75") and Finn's best effort covered 12.87 meters (42' 2.75"). David Bernstein (Norwich) finished sixth of 19 in the weight throw (14.95 meters/49' 0.75").

Johnson was seventh of 62 competitors in the 300-meter dash (36.09). Brian Thurston (Long Beach) and Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) placed sixth (9:29.82) and seventh (9:37.28), respectively, in the 3,000 meters.

Cortland sent three heptathletes to Brockport. Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) led the Red Dragons with a third-place score of 4,689 points, highlighted by a high jump of 1.94 meters (6' 4.25") that is an AARTFC qualifier. He scored 752 points in the 60-meter dash (7.38), 749 points in the high jump, and 744 points in the 60-meter hurdles (9.01).

Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) finished in fifth place (4,493) and Kellen Martin (Salamanca/Cattaraugus-Little Valley) ended in seventh place (4,188). Brooks scored 755 points in the 60-meter dash (7.37) and 733 points in the 60-meter hurdles (9.06), while Martin scored 736 points in the 1,000-meter run (2:52.84).

Complete Results:
Cornell (Men)
Brockport (Men)
Cornell (Women)
Brockport (Women)

Coach's Corner - Comments from Cortland Head Coach Steve Patrick:

This was a very long, and very exciting weekend of track and field action for us!  Obviously Maya Campbell's new school record (and likely NCAA qualifying mark) in the triple jump is incredibly impressive, but we should also note that she and teammate Malley Bowen both made finals of the 60HH for the women.  In fact, SUNY Cortland Red Dragons were also in the finals for the men's 60 (Peyton Lalone), women's 60 (Taylor Hunter), and the men's 60HH on the track (both Micheal Outing and Storm Malone).  That's a great measure of progress for our program, especially so early in the season!
 
We had a lot of nice depth on display in our men's relays today – both of our 4x800 relays put together nice efforts, and having our men's 4x400 relay of Connor Lewis, Austen Johnson, Richard Samuels, and Noah Serrette run 3:23.04 this early was tremendous!  All four of these guys ran great legs and were really working today!  Richard Samuels put together a really solid overall day – besides running the fastest split on the 4x400 relay, he was an important part of the 4x800 winning relay, and posted a great performance in the 500 – one that is now in the top 5 list for SUNY Cortland!  Teammate Ricky Castello, close behind in the 500, is also now on that list!
 
Not only was Maya incredible in the triple jump today, but freshman teammate Ace Bruce was also outstanding – her farthest jump is the 3rd-best ever indoors for a Lady Red Dragon.  Steffany Batista, another newcomer, put down a stellar time in the 300 today, just missing the school record by .01.  Senior Kaylee Uhl posted a great effort in the 300 as well – nearly a 2-second PR, and good enough to move into the top-five list at Cortland for that event.
 
The combined-event athletes took the trip to Brockport to compete over the weekend as well, with equally impressive results.  Of the six athletes that made the trip, four had new lifetime record point totals, and all showed significant improvement in numerous events. 
 
It was a pretty strong opening weekend for the program; we're looking forward to the chance to continue to refine our skills and post some additional marks this upcoming Friday in the 'Cortaca Mug Meet,' a fun little dual meet that Ithaca College hosts.