CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team posted nine All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks at the CNY College Challenge, hosted by the Red Dragons on Tuesday afternoon.

Cortland took home the team crown in the six-team event with a total of 265 points, followed by Ithaca (67), Cobleskill (50), Oswego (43), Cornell (16) and SUNY-ESF (10).

Junior Liam Joyce (Dryden) put together a strong performance on the day, hitting AARTFC qualifying times in two events. He won the 100-meter dash out of the field of 11 with a time of 11.09 seconds and was runner-up in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.12 seconds.

In the 400-meter dash, the Red Dragons collectively took the top five spots. Richard Samuels (Wallkill) was first with an AARTFC time of 49.83 seconds, followed by Chris Moore (Neponsit/Avon Old Farms) in second at 50.51 seconds. James Forte (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) was third (51.03), followed by Luke Updegraff (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) in fourth (51.40) and Ricky Castello (New Rochelle) in fifth (51.47).

Austen Johnson (Jamestown) won the 400-meter hurdles with an AARTFC qualifying time of 55.99 seconds. Aidan Farrell (Bloomingburg/Pine Bush) finished in second at 57.38 seconds. Brent DiVittorio (Brewster) and Chjuvaughn Cameron (Riverhead) finished second and third, respectively, in the 100-meter dash. DiVittorio finished in 11.17 seconds, followed by Cameron in 11.24 seconds.

In field events, Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) and C.J. White (Middletown) both reached AARTFC qualifying distances in the long jump. Brand won the event, reaching a distance of 7.26 meters (23' 10"), and is currently ranked seventh nationally in Division III. White finished in third with an effort of 6.75 meters (22' 1.75").

Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) won the pole vault by clearing a height of 4.70 meters (15' 5"). David Bernstein (Norwich) and Tyler Hochadel (Hamburg/Frontier) placed first and second, respectively, in the hammer throw, both with AARTFC qualifying marks. Bernstein recorded a distance of 54.94 meters (180' 3"), followed by Hochadel at 49.94 meters (163' 10"). Hochadel also took home first-place honors in the shot put with a winning heave of 13.43 meters (44' 0.75").

Grant Boyd (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) won the 1,500-meter run in 4:15.81. Htat Myat Lwin (Rennselaer) placed second in the 110-meter hurdles at 17.20 seconds. Hunter Keil (Camden) finished third in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.78 meters (5' 10").

Brandon Nugent (Middletown) was the top performer out of six competitors in the javelin throw with a distance of 42.15 meters (138' 3"). Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) finished second in the javelin throw with a distance of 37.34 meters (122' 6").

In the discus throw, Cole Clemons (Ithaca) was runner-up in the field of 10, hitting a distance of 40.96 meters (134' 4"). Bryan Finn (Fonda/Fonda-Fultonville) placed third with a distance of 40.03 meters (131' 4"). Finn also finished second in the shot put with a distance of 13.32 meters (43' 8.5").

Cortland will send competitors to two meets this weekend - the Shippensburg Paul Kaiser Classic on Saturday and the Cornell Big Red Invitational Sunday. The Red Dragons will not have any competitors at the Penn Relays Thursday as originally planned.

(Recap by Cortland sports information intern John Nocco)

Complete Results:
Men
Women

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

We certainly put together some great efforts tonight!  It's a little strange in that for some of our team we were going after big performances and PRs, while in other areas we were doing a little more than an overglorified practice.
 
Long jump was a huge success tonight!  Wendell Brand had a huge jump to move way up the national list, while teammates Ezra Schutt and Malik Hinds also put together great efforts.  Kitty Tang had a huge PR for the women, which was also great to see!
 
Kaylee Uhl ran a great PR tonight in the 400 hurdles.  It's nice that things are definitely coming together for her in that event!
 
Our women's 200 was pretty spectacular tonight as well!  To have freshman teammates – Steffany Batista and Taylor Hunter – run so fast is quite incredible; seeing both names up high on the NCAA performance list is quite a treat as well!  They are currently the 2nd and 3rd fastest freshmen in the country – only .01 and .02 out of first – which is obviously a great achievement!
 
We've had a tremendous string of efforts from the team recently.  It's great that the hard work people have been putting in has been paying off with some great performances!  We're looking forward to the opportunities at Shippensburg on Saturday and at Cornell on Sunday, and then of course the upcoming SUNYAC conference championships next weekend.