BROCKPORT, N.Y. and ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team began its 2019-20 campaign Saturday with competitors at the Brockport Season Opener Meet and the Cornell Greg Page Relays.

The Red Dragons recorded eight All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying performances at Brockport – five in field events and three in track events. Three of those came in the triple jump as Micah Assibey-Bonsu (Central Islip), last year's NCAA Division III runner-up, finished in first place at 14.41 meters (47' 3.5"), followed by Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) in third place (14.06 meters/46' 1.5") and Malik Hinds (Bay Shore) in fourth place (13.52 meters/44' 4.25").

Brand also hit an AARTFC mark with his second-place long jump of 6.94 meters (22' 9.25"). Brett DiVittorio (Brewster) and Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) claimed the top two spots in the 60-meter hurdles, both with AARTFC times. DiVittorio won in 8.14 seconds and Brooks was second in 8.45 seconds (8.42 in prelims). Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) won the pole vault with a qualifying height of 4.40 meters (14' 5.25"). He was one of two competitors to clear that height, but he awarded first place since he accomplished the feat on his first try compared to two attempts for the other athlete.

Peyton Lalone (Ogdensburg/Ogdensburg Free Academy) was Cortland's other AARTFC qualifier with his performance in the 60-meter dash. He was second out of 27 in the prelims at 7.08 seconds but did not compete in the finals.

Rich Samuels (Wallkill) won the 800 meters in 1:59.53 and was also part of Cortland's winning 4x400-meter relay team, along with Connor Lewis (Glen Ridge), Alhagie Sesay (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) and Jaheim Dotson (Coram/Longwood), that finished in 3:29.92. The Red Dragons also placed second in that relay as Luke Updegraff (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley), Phil Louis-Juste (Spring Valley/North Rockland), Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame) and Noah Serrette (Valley Stream/Lawrence) clocked in at 3:30.58.

Lewis finished second of 30 in the 200-meter dash (22.97) and second of 27 in the 400-meter dash (51.43). Three other Red Dragons placed in the top eight of the 200 – Dotson in third place (23.13), Sesay in fifth place (23.45) and Liam Joyce (Dryden) in eighth place (23.63). Lewis was joined in the 400-meter top five by Serrette in third (51.48), Goring in fourth (51.51) and Dotson in fifth (51.83).

Also at Brockport, Kashmer was fourth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.84), Brooks placed fourth in the pole vault (4.10 meters/13' 5.25") and Hinds was fifth in the long jump (6.35 meters/20' 10"). Hinds had the fourth-fastest time in the 60-meter hurdles prelims at 8.72 seconds but did not compete in the finals.

At Cornell, Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) won the 5,000 meters (15:52.82), followed by Chad Dunham (Central Square/Paul V. Moore) in second (15:56.42). Nolan Vest (Coram/Longwood) was the 3,000-meter runner-up (8:52.76), with Tom Adamescu (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) eighth (9:28.00).

Bryan Finn (Fonda/Fonda-Fultonville) finished third of 27 in the shot put with a heave of 13.63 meters (44' 8.75"). Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) was fifth of 27 in the weight throw (14.90 meters/48' 10.75"), followed by David Bernstein (Norwich) in seventh (14.26 meters/46' 9.5"), and Justin Arranz (North Babylon) finished seventh out of 60 in the 60-meter dash (7.28).

Cortland returns to action in a meet at Utica College on January 18.

Complete Results:
Brockport - Men
Cornell - Men
Brockport - Women
Cornell - Women

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

Track and field can be pretty strange in college – this year we start officially in mid-October, and have one meet this semester before entering into final exams and then heading home for break.  It's pretty much fine for returning student-athletes, but can be a pretty big shock for the new members of the team.
 
We were fortunate to be able to split the squad between Cornell and Brockport, since each meet had some competitive advantages as compared to the other.  Additionally, since it is much easier to travel to Cornell, that was very advantageous for members of the team that were concerned about having exams on Monday!
 
With that being said, we had a number of great performances on the weekend!  At Cornell, some of our highlights included freshmen Madison Rees in the 60, with classmate Justin Arranz in the 60.  Both opened up their college careers with pretty good performances that bode well for the future!  Justin not only got into the finals, but also took advantage of that opportunity to improve on his performance, which rarely happens in these early season meets.  Long sprinters Jesse Correale and Bridget Bennett both had really good days in the 300 – Jesse just missed her PR which was from February of last year; both ladies ran significantly faster than a year ago at this meet which is a good testament to the amount of work they had put in.  Freshman Brett Morse (60HH and long jump), Aaron Jones (60HH), MJ Hunter (long jump), and Stephanie Kiluba (60HH and triple jump) had good openers as well for their first collegiate meet, and definitely had some strong learning experiences!
 
The throwers all competed at Cornell on Saturday; nearly everybody had a lifetime personal best in one of their events!  Mitchell Makowski had a huge weight throw, Bryan Finn picked up right were he left off last year in the shot put; Liz Spencer had a big PR in the weight throw while Athena Johnson threw a lifetime best in shot.  It was really exciting that newcomers Sarah Parr and Tiernen Joseph both opened the season with strong performances!
 
Finally, our distance athletes at Cornell were able to put in some really good work as well.  In the 3k, Nolan Vest impressed with a big lifetime best, while freshmen Tom Adamescu and Alex Brodmerkel did a great job of executing their race plan and competing quite well!  In the women's 3k, Rachel Castello and Lexi MacAneney had really good efforts!  In the women's 5k, Courtney Maurin and Cat Zamroz both ran great to get big PRs for the event, which is often quite a challenge after cross country.  But in many ways, the men's 5k were our most impressive performances for the meet.  The field was very small – only 5 runners were entered, and four were Red Dragons.  While it was great to go 1 – 4 on the day, what's more impressive is that the guys did exceptional work together to hit some pace goals we had established with the hope of having a good field.  Chad Dunham did a great job of pacing Mike Verde to a huge PR, while Dan Gross – who ran a PR of his own – paced freshman Josh Nogaret to a great first-ever 5k on the track!  Being able to go out and make things happen even when the field is pretty small is a great indicator that our distance squad is making positive progress!
 
Brockport was a really fun experience for the members of the squad that were there!  For the women's squad, we were mostly focused on the jumping events.  In the vertical jumps, everybody made a height, which is great especially considering the pressure a lot of the rookies were feeling!  Kimmy Arena (pole vault) and Lauren Anderson (high jump) both opened their careers with good efforts, and sophomore Becca Gresens was great in both events!  Lauren also had a nice run in the 60HH, and a solid effort in long jump.
 
Senior Kelly Gardner led a deep group of ladies in the horizontal jumps, with great opening efforts for both long jump and triple jump.  We spent a lot of the fall focused on the development of a good approach; when the official in charge of the horizontals complimented me on Saturday about how many of our team was hitting the board, I'd say that things have worked out well!  The overall performances were pretty decent as well, with freshman Abigail McDowell and junior Riley Wood having solid long jumps; Abigail matched Kelly's distance in triple jump while Katherine McDowell also had a very good opening effort in her triple jump!  The jumps are a place where you can definitely 'psych yourself out,' and I'm really happy about how we managed to stay under control today.  Finally, junior Shannon Imbornoni was a double-winner in the 800 and mile today.  While the times weren't that fast, they were pretty darn good for the first meet in December and more importantly she was committed to racing well and making good moves when it counted.
 
The men's jumps were also pretty darn good!  Just like the women, everybody cleared a bar.  Decathletes Zach Kashmer and Isaiah Brooks opened the year with strong pole vaulting efforts – always worth a lot of points – and both ran lifetime bests in the 60HH as well!  Seniors Wendell Brand and Micah Assibey-Bonsu had great openers to the season, but senior Malik Hinds – who is often overshadowed from the headlines those guys make – had a really stellar day in long jump, triple jump, and in the 60 hurdles.  He's made tremendous progress this fall, so we're excited to see it pay off in this meet, and probably more excited from what it indicates he is capable of doing in the future!
 
Senior Brent DiVittorio may have stolen the show on the day, however, with his 8.14s effort in the 60HH – a time that was 10th in the nation last year, and is tied for 2nd on our all-time list at Cortland. The 400 meter squad put in a pretty dominant effort on the day, as the Red Dragon men were showing off a lot of depth as seniors Connor Lewis and Noah Serrette along with freshmen Coltrane Goring, and Jaheim Dotson ran 2nd – 5th on the day, all with solid performance for the first meet!  The men came back to place 1-2 in the 4x400 relay, which is another great sign of our depth!  Junior Rich Samuels ran the fastest split of the day, after a dominant performance in the 800.  Again, being able to make things happen even when the field is small in a distance race is a great skill to develop!
 
The staff is extremely excited with the progress we have made this fall, and are super happy to have some tangible evidence of it from the first meet across a wide range of events.  With only one meet it can be incredibly frustrating for an athlete if they don't perform as well as they had hoped in the first event, but thankfully that was rarely an issue this weekend.
 
The team will be heading home for a well-deserved break; we are looking forward to having our first group back with us after New Year's!