FREDONIA, N.Y. - The Cortland men's cross country team finished in first place out of four schools at the season-opening Fredonia Invitational.

The Red Dragons finished with a team score of 35 points, nine better than runner-up Oswego. Brockport (68) and Fredonia (76) rounded out the field.

Four Cortland runners earned top-eight finishes in the 42-competitor, 6,000-meter race. Junior Cabel McCandless (Lindenhurst) was second in 20:13.3, senior Grant Boyd (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) placed fourth in 20:33.4, junior Ryan Konotopskyj (East Amherst/Williamsville North) crossed the finish line fifth in 20:39.4, and senior Chris Thorpe (Pine Bush) finished eighth in 21:02.9. Fredonia's Ethan Francis won the race in 19:47.0.

Closing out Cortland's top seven were three freshman - Hunter Braun (Victor) in 16th place (22:02.5), Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) in 17th place (22:04.3), and Clayton Santiago (Bethpage) in 19th place (22:11.2).

Cortland returns to action next Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Hamilton College Short Course Meet.

Complete Results:
Men
Women


Coach's Corner - Comments from Head Coach Steve Patrick following the men's and women's races:

We opened up the 2018 season today with some really great efforts for both teams.  While obviously Sydney and Eliza had a solid start to the season, the Lady Red Dragons had a super nice pack of runners where six folks were together a bit before the two mile mark.  We've emphasized team running, so it was great to see it in action today.

With the guys, we had some great individual efforts up front, to go along with really strong debuts from Hunter Braun, Michael Verde, and Clayton Santiago - although I'd be foolish if I didn't mention how important the pacing chores and leadership of James Forte and Pat Carew were for those guys!