CORTLAND, N.Y. - The Cortland men's track and field team finished in first place at the Cortland Please Stop Snowing Team Challenge. The meet was added to the schedule after the Red Dragons were unable to compete in two of the season's first three weekends due to the weather.

Cortland finished with 213.83 points, followed by Buffalo State with 113.33 points and Daemen with 91.5 points in the eight-team field.

The Red Dragons met eight All Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks, highlighted by a top-four sweep in the triple jump.

Dawan Jones (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) was the top finisher out of eight in the triple jump with a personal best jump of 14.84 meters (48' 8.25"), and he is currently the nationally first-ranked in the event. He was followed, in order, by C.J. White (Middletown) at 13.90 meters (45' 7.25"), Kwaku Ofosu (Latham/Shaker) at 13.68 meters (44' 10.75") and Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) at 13.56 meters (44' 6"). All four performances were good enough to qualify for the AARTFC Championships.

Three other Red Dragons achieved winning performances at the meet, with all three efforts meeting regional standards. Storm Malone (Harrison/Highland) won the 110-meter hurdles, where he ranks 11th nationally, in 14.72 seconds. Malone also finished second in the 100-meter dash in 11.35 seconds. Nick Vachon (Johnson City/Maine-Endwell) was the top finisher out of 11 in the high jump at 1.94 meters (6' 4.25") and Austen Johnson (Jamestown) was first out of seven in the 400-meter hurdles in 56.28 seconds. Also, Dev Williams (Syracuse/Corcoran) won the long jump at 7.19 meters (23' 7.25") and sits fifth in the nation.

Cortland's final AARTFC qualifier was Matt DeLorenzo (Wallkill) in the pole vault. He finished second out of 11 at 4.36 meters (14' 3.5").

Easton Regan (Schenectady/Schalmont) had two top-five finishes. He was second out of 28 in the 200-meter dash in 22.73 seconds and fourth out of 10 in the 110-meter hurdles in 16.32 seconds. Amauris Olivo (Bronx/Urban Assembly School for Careers in Sports) was second in the 800-meter run in 2:00.50 and Ricky Castello (New Rochelle) was fourth out of 20 in the 400-meter dash in 50.90 seconds.

The 4x100 meter relay team of John Martin (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg), Chjuvaughn Cameron (Riverhead), Connor Lewis (Glen Ridge) and Liam Joyce (Dryden) finished second in 43.31 seconds. Martin was also third in the 110-meter hurdles (15.93). Joyce was fourth in the 200-meter dash (23.20), and his 11.55 seconds finish in the 100-meter dash was good for sixth. Cameron was seventh in the 200-meter dash in 23.46 seconds and Lewis was eighth in 23.47 seconds.

In throwing events, Tyler Hochadel (Hamburg/Frontier) was second out of 11 in the hammer at 46.03 meters (151' 0") and third of 16 in the shot put with a throw of 12.71 meters (41' 8.5"). Also in the shot put, Cole Clemons (Ithaca) finished fourth at 12.64 meters (41' 5.75"), and he was third out of 15 in the discus at 40.35 meters (132' 4"). Liam Brown (Brookhaven/St. John the Baptist Diocesan) was fourth in the discus with a throw of 40.34 meters (132' 4") and Brandon Nugent (Middletown) was fifth out of 13 with a javelin throw of 37.91 meters (124' 4").

On Thursday and Friday, Cortland sent two decathletes to the Kutztown University Mondschein Multi event. Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) finished sixth in the maroon division with a score of 6,128 points and Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) was fourth in the gold division with 5,591 points. Kashmer's highest scoring events were the 400 meters (771 points, 50.95 seconds), the 110-meter hurdles (759 points, 15.77 seconds), the 100-meter dash (742 points, 11.55 seconds) and the high jump (705 points, 1.89 meters/6' 2.25"). Brooks scored 783 points in the 110-meter hurdles (AARTFC qualifying 15.56 seconds), 769 points in the 100-meter dash (11.42 seconds) and 705 points in the high jump (1.89 meters/6' 2.25").

Cortland will send competitors to the Bucknell Outdoor Classic this weekend, and next week will host the Cortland Classic April 21-22.

(Recap by Cortland sports information student intern Kyle Lancto and Cortland SID Fran Elia)

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

We are quite fortunate that after the spring we have been having our college and department were able to support us adding this Friday night meet. The weather cooperated with us and our team was able to get some great performances! Some of the team hadn't had a chance to race since February 16th so getting one in was really crucial! While we didn't go into this meet fixated on trying to win as a team, it's a nice measure of where we are as a program that we were able to do so well overall!

Our 4x100 relays did awesome work today. We've really only been able to practice the baton passes once this season. The times are quite nice to open the season with and we are looking forward to seeing some big improvements as we move forward.

For the women's team, Maya Campbell had a stellar day with a PR to break 16 seconds in the hurdles and a huge PR in the triple jump: she went nearly four feet further than her previous best! Cole Clemons was equally impressive on he men's side setting three lifetime best performances in the shot put, discus throw, and hammer throw!

While it was a small contingent that made the trip to Kutztown for the Mondschein Multi, it couldn't have gone much better. While I don't want to downplay what a great effort Zach Kashmer put together - he had almost as many points through nine events as his best 10-event performance last year - the three freshmen that made the trip were all able to handle their first outdoor multi-event quite well!  Kim White had a collegiate best in every single one of the seven events that comprise the heptathlon. That's the first time I can recall something like that happening!

Cortland Meet Results:
Men
Women

Kutztown Men's Heptathlon Results (Maroon Division)
Kutztown Men's Heptathlon Results (Gold Division)
Kutztown Women's Heptathlon Results (White Division)