ITHACA, N.Y- The Cortland men's indoor track team put together multiple first place performances this weekend at the Cornell University Marc Deneault Invitational and in a tri-meet with Ithaca College and Oneonta hosted by Ithaca.
 
Cortland finished second in the tri-meet scoring at Ithaca that awarded five points for first, three for second, two for third and one for fourth. Ithaca scored 56 points, followed by Cortland with 48 and Oneonta with 44.
 
At Cornell, Richard Samuels (Wallkill) finished first out of 14 competitors in the 400-meter dash with an All-Atlantic Region Track and Field (AARTFC) sixth-ranking time of 50.29 seconds. Ricky Castello (New Rochelle) placed second in the same event with a time of 51.32 seconds.
 
Samuels and Castello also placed second in the 4x400-meter relay with the help of Connor Lewis (Glen Ridge) and Austen Johnson (Jamestown). The runners put together an AARTFC qualifying time of 3:22.42. Lewis and Johnson also posted top-five finishes in the 300-meter dash. Lewis placed fourth out of 13 runners (36.55) while Johnson finished fifth (36.69).
 
In the 60-meter hurdles, Storm Malone (Highland) hit an AARTFC qualifying time at 8.33 seconds to finish third. Ryan Konotopskyj (East Amherst/Williamsville North) posted an AARTFC qualifying time with a fourth-place effort in the 800-meter run (1:57.51). Nolan Vest (Coram/Longwood) placed sixth in the 800 meters (1:59.79).
 
Grant Boyd (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) and Cabel McCandless (Lindenhurst) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, out of 22 competitors in the 3,000 meters. Boyd finished with a time of 9:03.97 and McCandless finished shortly after at 9:05.52.
 
At Ithaca, Liam Joyce (Dryden) bested 22 runners in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.82 seconds. Joyce also finished second in the 60-meter dash with an AARTFC qualifying time of 7.13 seconds. Kai Bryant (Brooklyn/ H.S. of Enterprise Business and Tech.) finished third in the 60-meter dash at 7.29 seconds and Chjuvaughn Cameron (Riverhead) placed fourth (7.36). Cameron also placed fifth out of 22 runners in the 200-meter dash (23.63).
 
Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) and Micah Assibey-Bonsu (Central Islip) finished first in their respective events as well. Sorenson hit an AARTFC qualifying height of 4.72 meters (15' 5.75") in the pole vault while Assibey-Bonsu finished the triple jump with a distance of 14.47 meters (47' 5.75") that ranks fifth nationally in Division III and second in the AARTFC. Ryan Lawless (Commack) placed fifth in the pole vault with a height of 4.27 meters (14' 0").
 
Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) and Ryan Miller (Little Falls) each posted top-three finishes in both the long jump and triple jump. Miller finished second out of 14 competitors in the long jump with a distance 6.61 meters (21' 8.25") and third in the triple jump at 12.91 meters (42' 4.25"). Brand placed second out of five competitors in the triple jump with an AARTFC qualifying distance of 13.84 meters (45' 5") and third in the long jump at 6.55 meters (21' 6"). Malik Hinds (Bay Shore) finished fourth in the long jump at 6.40 meters (21' 0") and Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) was sixth at 5.97 meters (19' 7").
 
In the shot put, Tyler Hochadel (Hamburg/Frontier) finished second out of 12 participants with an AARTFC qualifying distance of 14.06 meters (46' 1.5"). Bryan Finn (Fonda/Fonda-Fultonville) finished third (13.27 meters/43' 6.5") and Cole Clemons (Ithaca) finished sixth (12.15 meters/39' 10.5").
 
David Bernstein (Norwich) hit an AARTFC qualifying mark in the weight throw with a second-place distance of 16.60 meters (54' 5.5"). Hochadel finished fourth in the weight throw as well at 14.73 meters (48' 4").
 
In the high jump, Hunter Keil (Camden) and Jesse Haynes (Hampton Bays) each cleared 1.78 meters (5' 10"). Keil officially finished third and Haynes was fourth in the 10-entrant field.
 
Four Cortland hurdlers finished in the top seven of the 60-meter hurdle prelims – Brooks was second (8.77), Hinds was fourth (8.83), Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) finished sixth (8.99) and Kellen Martin (Salamanca/Cattaraugus-Little Valley) was seventh (9.25).
 
The Red Dragons will compete at the SUNYAC Indoor Championships next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22-23, at Houghton College.

(Recap by sports information intern John Nocco)

Complete Results - Deneault Invitational
Men's Results - Ithaca Tri-Meet
Women's Results - Ithaca Tri-Meet

Coach's Corner - Comments from Head Coach Steve Patrick

We certainly saw some really nice efforts between our two meets today!
 
Over at Cornell, we had a nice flurry of personal bests – Jesse Correale and Connor Lewis both hit PRs in the 300 meters, Shannon Imbornoni ran her fastest ever in the 400, Ryan Konotopskyj and Nolan Vest both ran big indoor PRs in the 800, and Richard Samuels had a huge PR to win the 400 meters overall!  It's great to have the opportunity to split the squad so that people can get to the meet that serves them best for their overall development.
 
The bulk of the team ran at Ithaca, and we had some very strong results there as well!  Throwers Bryan Finn and Liz Spencer both had PRs in the weight throw, which is an encouraging sign!  Freshman Ryan Miller had a great PR in the long jump, while junior Micah Assibey-Bonsu hit a big leap in the triple jump, which moved him up the NCAA qualifying list significantly.  Our men's 800 runners of Hunter Braun, Jose Cruz, and Clayton Santiago all ran PRs in a strong race, while freshman Bridget Bennett hit a great PR in the 200.  Liam Joyce put in a great day of work with PRs in both the 60 and the 200.  Pole vault was a pretty strong event for us today as well, with junior Malley Bowen having a massive improvement by nearly a foot and half to gain entry into the conference meet!  While Dane Sorensen didn't PR, he had a great competition to earn the victory in the men's pole vault.  We're quite excited to see this kind of great movement forward as we head into the conference championships next weekend!