ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cortland men's indoor track and field team, ranked 12th nationally in Division III, recorded a dozen All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying performances in two meets over the weekend. The Red Dragons sent athletes to both a tri-meet at Ithaca College on Friday and the Cornell Deneault Memorial on Saturday.

In the Ithaca tri-meet scoring, Ithaca finished first with 62.5 points, followed by Utica with 45 and Cortland with 43.5. Cortland met six AARTFC marks on Friday in Ithaca, all on field events. Three out of the six were on the pole vault where Matt Greenlaw (Warwick/Warwick Valley) finished tied for second out of 16 competitors at a height of 4.42 meters (14' 6"). Luke Shively (Canandaigua/Marcus Whitman) and Charlie Kollmer (Mount Sinai) both also cleared 4.42 meters (14' 6"), and were fourth and fifth, respectively, due to misses.

Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) was first out of nine competitors in the high jump with a distance of 1.93 meters (6' 4"), which set his season best and earned an AARTFC qualifying mark. Brooks also finished second out of 22 in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.71 seconds. Three other Red Dragons registered top-five finishes in the high jump with Jesse Haynes (Hampton Bays) finishing third at 1.78 meters (5' 10") and Kevin Diaz Lopez (Haverstraw/North Rockland) and Kellen Martin (Salamanca/Cattaraugus-Little Valley) tied for fifth at 1.63 meters (5' 4.25").

Also in the 60-meter hurdles, John Martin (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg) finished first out of 12 in 8.66 second, Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) finished fourth (9.03), and Diaz Lopez took fifth (9.39, 9.33 in preliminaries). Brent DiVittorio (Brewster) led after preliminaries at 8.37 seconds, but did not compete in the finals.

The two other regional qualifiers came out of the triple jump where Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) and Kwaku Ofosu (Latham/Shaker) finished in second and third place, respectively, out of 10 competitors. Brand's jump of 13.64 meters (44' 9") surpassed his previous personal best by more than three feet. Ofosu's third place jump registered at 13.56 meters (44' 6"). He previously set an AARTFC mark in the triple jump at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational in early February with a jump of 13.70 meters (44' 11.5").

Also at the Ithaca Tri Meet, Peyton Lalone (Ogdensburg/Ogdensburg Free Academy) won the 200-meter dash, beating out 26 other runners with a time of 23.08 seconds. Lalone also placed third out of 17 in the 60-meter dash in 7.25 seconds (7.21 in preliminaries). Liam Joyce (Dryden) finished second in the same event (7.22, 7.20 in preliminaries) and placed 14th in the 200 meters (24.21). Tyler Hochadel (Hamburg/Frontier) finished second out of 17 in the weight throw at 14.50 meters (47' 7") and fourth out of 18 in the shot put at 12.90 meters (42' 4").

On Saturday at Cornell, Dev Williams (Syracuse/Corcoran) moved two spots up to 12th nationally in Division III in the long jump after his third-place finish at 7.13 meters (23' 4.75"), an AARTFC qualifying mark.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Easton Reagan (Schenectady/Schalmont), Ricky Castello (New Rochelle), Richard Samuels (Wallkill) and Austen Johnson (Jamestown) now rank 21st nationally after they finished second out of eight in 3:21.90, meeting the AARTFC standard. Reagan also placed sixth out of 30 in the 200-meter dash in 23.10 seconds.

Also meeting the regional marks were: Micheal Outing (Farmingdale) in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing seventh out of 20 in 8.20 seconds; Nick Vachon (Johnson City/Maine-Endwell) finishing fifth out of 12 in the high jump at 1.95 meters (6' 4.75"); and Dawan Jones (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) and C.J. White (Middletown) in the triple jump - Jones was third out of 17 at 14.78 meters (48' 6") and White was seventh at 13.97 meters (45' 10").

Other highlights included Samuels (51.38), Noah Serrette (Lawrence) (51.39), and Adam Perilli (Lockport) (51.44) taking fourth, fifth, and sixth place, respectively, out of 28 in the 400-meter dash and James Forte (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) earning fifth place out of 34 in the 800 meters in 1:58.38. Nolan Vest (Coram/Longwood) was 10th in the 800 (2:00.16).

The Red Dragons compete at the SUNYAC Indoor Championships next Friday and Saturday at Brockport.

Coach's Corner - Comments from Head Coach Steve Patrick on the men's and women's meets at Ithaca and Cornell:

First and foremost I'd like to acknowledge how great it is that we have the opportunity to split the squad so that folks can compete at the right meet over the weekend to best help their performance.  Having the support and trust of our administration makes things much easier!

At Ithaca on Friday we had a number of great hurdling performances that are quite exciting, especially from Maya Campbell who ran herself into the conference meet with a big PR in the finals!  Jacqueline Guzman also earned the right to compete next weekend with a big PR in the pole vault.  For the men we saw a lot of great strides, probably highlighted by Tyler Hochadel in the weight throw with his lifetime best; Liam Joyce's 60 dash has secured his entry for next week as well!

At Cornell, the performance by the men's 4x400 relay is a big deal since they improved on the national list by a little over a second and have taken over the top spot in the conference.  Noah Serrette (in the 400), Easton Reagan (in the 200), James Forte, and Nolan Vest (both in the 800) put up valuable performances that have put them into the upcoming conference championships as well.

We're excited for the trip to Brockport this weekend for the chance to represent SUNY Cortland well and to make our alumni and families proud!

I'd also like to make mention of Jack Flood, who as a Red Dragon won the NCAA titles in the heptathlon and decathlon in 2017.  Jack just earned fourth place at the USA Track and Field Indoor National Championships in the heptathlon with a new PR of 5,562 points!

Complete Results
Ithaca Tri-Meet (Men)
Ithaca Tri-Meet (Women)
Cornell Deneault Invitational (Men)
Cornell Deneault Invitational (Women)