SWARTHMORE, PA. - The Cortland men's and women's outdoor track and field teams sent a handful of middle distance runners to the Swarthmore Final Qualifier Meet on Monday, May 13. The Red Dragons will have one more chance to qualify for nationals or improve their standing when athletes who have qualified for the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Outdoor Championships will compete in the two-day meet Wednesday and Thursday at Cortland.

The NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held May 23-25 in Geneva, Ohio. The top 22 women and top 20 men in each individual event, including the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively, as well as the top 16 relay teams for both genders, will qualify for nationals.

Four Red Dragon men competed at Swarthmore. Three of them placed in the top third of the field in the 800-meter run. Richard Samuels (Wallkill) finished 12th out of 109 entrants in 1:54.72, followed by James Forte (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) in 27th place (1:56.46) and Chris Moore (Neponsit/Avon Old Farms) in 33rd place (1:57.40). Nolan Vest (Coram/Longwood) was 47th of 143 runners in the 1,500 meters in 3:56.48.

Samuels and Forte each hit AARTFC marks in the 800, as did Vest in the 1,500. Samuels already ranks fourth in the region based on a time from earlier in the season, and Vest is ninth in the 1,500 based on an earlier performance.

One Cortland woman made the trip to Swarthmore – Shannon Imbornoni (Bethpage/Our Lady of Mercy Academy) finished 18th out of 46 runners in the 800 meters in 2:20.01. The time is an AARTFC qualifying effort, but she had already qualified for regionals with a faster time earlier this spring.

Complete Results (PDF)

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

We were really close on having some big breakthroughs today at swarthmore.  We definitely had a lot of good learning experiences, which is always a positive!

Richard Samuels ran a great race to win his heat in the 800. With it so late in the year, we are definitely looking to compete well, so that was great!

Nolan Vest also ran a really tough race to nearly win his heat in the 1500 with nearly a PR. He took over the lead at the 300 meter mark, and drove the pace of the race through the 1200 mark.  His final 300 was at close to 4-flat mile pace, which was great!

We're looking forward to hosting the AARTFC Regional Championships this Wednesday and Thursday at Cortland.