MILLERSVILLE, PA. and CLINTON, N.Y. – The Cortland men's outdoor track team put together a fourth-place finish out of 23 schools at the 37th annual Millersville Metrics, hosted by Millersville University. The Red Dragons also sent competitors to Hamilton College for the Hamilton Continental Invitational.

East Stroudsburg took home the team crown at Millersville with a total of 162 points, followed by Georgian Court (115), PSU-Harrisburg (74), Cortland (68), and Messiah (54) to round out the top five.

Juniors Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) and Micah Assibey-Bonsu (Central Islip) each placed first in their respective events while also hitting AARTFC qualifying marks. Brand finished first in the long jump, recording a distance of 7.09 meters (23' 3.25") and Assibey-Bonsu, the NCAA Division III runner-up last month, finished first in the triple jump with a distance of 14.62 meters (47' 11.75"). Brand and C.J. White (Middletown) also reached AARTFC qualifying distances in the triple jump. White placed second with a distance of 14.36 meters (47' 1.5") and Brand finished fifth reaching a distance of 13.81 meters (45' 3.75"). White also placed eighth in the long jump with a distance of 6.52 meters (21' 3.5").

Other AARTFC qualifying performances at Millersville Metrics include a second-place finish by Nolan Vest (Coram/Longwood) in the 1,500-meter run (4:01.64) and a seventh-place finish by Austen Johnson (Jamestown) in the 400-meter hurdles (56.60).

In the 200-meter dash, Liam Joyce (Dryden) placed third out of 68 competitors with a time of 22.61 seconds. Chjuvaughn Cameron (Riverhead) and Luke Updegraff (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) finished 15th and 16th, respectively, each officially in 23.12 seconds. Storm Malone (Highland) followed shortly after in 17th place at 23.15 seconds. Joyce was also Cortland's top finisher in the 100-meter dash in 11th place out of 74 competitors in 11.45 seconds. Malone placed 15th with a time of 11.57 seconds and Brent DiVittorio (Brewster) finished 17th at 11.61 seconds.

Chris Moore (Neponsit/Avon Old Farms) finished fourth in the 800-meter run (1:57.37). Cabel McCandless (Lindenhurst) placed 18th with a time of 2:00.98. Aidan Farrell (Bloomingburg/Pine Bush) placed 11th in the 400-meter hurdles in 58.24 seconds.

In the 1,500 meters, Hunter Braun (Victor), James Forte (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) and McCandless finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Braun recorded a time of 4:04.99 and Forte finished in 4:05.17, followed by McCandless in 4:05.51. Clayton Santiago (Bethpage) placed 11th with a time of 4:08.32.

The relay unit of Updegraff, Farrell, Braun, and Vest placed sixth in the 4x400-meter relay at 3:34.59. The other relay unit of Sean Sorohan (Pearl River), John Nethercott (Fayetteville/Fayetteville-Manlius), Forte and Santiago finished shortly after in seventh with a time of 3:35.03.

Ricky Castello (New Rochelle) placed 12th out of 48 runners in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.43 seconds. Michael Eubanks (Islip) followed in 15th at 52.57 seconds. Sean Allen (Seaford) and Hunter Keil (Camden) tied for 16th in the high jump with heights of 1.72 meters (5' 7.75").

At Hamilton, Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) and David Bernstein (Norwich) both took home the first-place crown in their respective events. Sorensen won the pole vault with a height of 4.82 meters (15' 9.75"), while Bernstein won the hammer throw with a distance of 52.90 meters (173' 7"). Both of these performances hit AARTFC qualifying marks.

In the discus throw, Cole Clemons (Ithaca) finished seventh out of 46 competitors with a distance of 38.70 meters (127' 0"). Bryan Finn (Fonda/Fonda-Fultonville) placed 10th at 36.93 meters (121' 2") followed by Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) in 14th at 35.82 meters (117' 6") and Bernstein in 16th at 35.54 meters (116' 7").

Jesse Haynes (Hampton Bays) finished seventh in the 110-meter hurdles in 17.70 seconds and 16th in the javelin throw with a distance of 33.59 meters (110' 2"). Kellen Martin (Salamanca/Cattaraugus-Little Valley) placed 14th in the 400-meter dash in 53.12 seconds. Patrick Carew (Levittown/Division Avenue) placed 21st in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:50.64.

Tyler Hochadel (Hamburg/Frontier) placed 10th in the shot put (13.13 meters/43' 1") and 13th in the hammer throw (41.91 meters/137' 6"). Finn and Makowski finished 11th (12.72 meters/41' 8.75") and 21st (11.70 meters/38' 4.75"), respectively, in the shot put. In the 1500-meter run, Jake Anweiler (New Hartford) was Cortland's top finisher with a 39th-place time of 4:25.50 out of 70 entries.

The Red Dragons will travel to Kutztown, Pennsylvania next Thursday and Friday, April 11-12, for the Kutztown Mondschein Multi meet and will host the Cortland Friday Under the Lights Invite on Friday, April 12. Cortland will also be sending some competitors to the Bucknell Outdoor Classic Saturday and Sunday, April 13-14.

(Recap by sports information intern John Nocco)

Results:
Hamilton Invitational (PDF)
Millersville Metrics (TFRRS)

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

To start off at Hamilton, we had some really nice work in the javelin with both Cat Lutjen and Sarah Norris over 30 meters!  That was especially great for Sarah's first collegiate meet!  Also on the throws, hammer was pretty strong for us, as evidenced by David Bernstein's win, a 41 meter toss from freshman Mitchell Makowski (beating his big brother in the process), and a season's best from Harley Buczkowski.  Finally for the throwers, Cole Clemons had s great effort today in the discus. Dane Sorensen's huge leap in the pole vault was exceptional, especially given the windy conditions.  He's also showing himself to be a strong competitor as he won the meet!

The bulk of the team, competing at Millersville, showcased some excellent efforts, especially from the mid distance events and the horizontal jumps.  Any time you can take 3 out of the 4 horizontal jumps, things are going well.  We had initially planned on using this as more of a training day but the conditions in Pennsylvania were pretty great, so all of the athletes we had in those events that were able to adjust their plans and expectations should be commended!  The 1500 in particular was a successful event for us today as well, with numerous Red Dragons racing near the front! While we aren't trying to rack up the points at a meet like this, we are certainly pleased with how the team scores finished up for us!