ITHACA, N.Y. and ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) turned in the fourth-best heptathlon score in school history and Brent DiVittorio (Brewster) recorded the nation's second-fastest time this season in the 60-meter hurdles to highlight the Cortland men's indoor track and field team's efforts at two road meets.

Cortland sent a handful of competitors, including Kashmer, to the Cornell Upstate Challenge Friday and Saturday. DiVittorio was part of the larger contingent of Red Dragons to travel to Nazareth College Saturday for the Conference Challenge Cup.

Kashmer finished fourth overall, and was the second Division III placer, in the heptathlon at Cornell with a score of 4,937 points. His effort ranks first in the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) and fourth nationally in Division III. Kashmer's performance included two AARTFC qualifying achievements – he scored 823 points in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.66 seconds and 760 points in the pole vault at 4.50 meters (14' 9"). His pole vault height currently is seventh in the AARTFC and 24th nationally.

Also at Cornell, Josh Nogaret (New Berlin/Unadilla Valley) was 10th in the 3,000 meters (9:33.10) and Jean-Andre Sassine (Queens Village/The Lawrenceville School) was 11th in the triple jump (12.79 meters/41' 11.5").

The Nazareth meet featured a unique scoring system where pairs of schools from six different conferences had their team scores combined. The SUNYAC combo of Cortland and Geneseo finished first with 179 points – 108 by Geneseo and 71 by Cortland. The Liberty League (Ithaca and Rochester) finished second with 173 points, followed by the NESCAC (Williams and Hamilton) with 147. Other leagues represented were the Empire 8, MAC and Landmark.

DiVittorio won the 60-meter hurdles at Nazareth in a field of 31 competitors with a time of 8.09 seconds in the finals that ranks first in the AARTFC and second nationally. The effort was just shy of the school record of 8.05 seconds.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Noah Serrette (Valley Stream/Lawrence), Rich Samuels (Wallkill), Jaheim Dotson (Coram/Longwood) and Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame) finished second of 18 in 3:23.56, which ranks third in the AARTFC and eighth nationally. Samuels also won the 500-meter dash in 1:06.05, followed by James Forte (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun) in third (1:07.87).

Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) placed second of 28 in the long jump (6.70 meters/21' 11.75") and fourth of 15 in the triple jump (13.53 meters/44' 4.75"), both with AARTFC qualifying marks. David Bernstein (Norwich) met the regional standard with his fourth-place weight throw of 16.06 meters (52' 8.25").

Serrette and Dotson were fifth (51.42) and sixth (51.57), respectively, in the 400-meter dash. Bryan Finn (Fonda/Fonda-Fultonville) was fifth of 43 in the shot put (13.25 meters/43' 5.75"), Liam Joyce (Dryden) placed sixth of 50 in the 200-meter dash (23.40) and Dane Sorsensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) was seventh of 25 in the pole vault (4.25 meters/13' 11.25"). Malik Hinds (Bay Shore) placed seventh in the triple jump (12.90 meters/42' 4") and Nolan Vest (Coram/Longwood) was eighth of 44 in the 800 meters (1:58.84).

Other Red Dragons with top 10 showings included: Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) in the long jump (9th, 6.25 meters/20' 6.25"); Chjuvaughn Cameron (Riverhead) and Joyce in the 60-meter dash (Cameron 9th in 7.30 seconds; Joyce 10th in 7.31 seconds); and Luke Updegraff (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) in the 400-meter dash (10th, 52.23).

Cortland will compete at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Results:
Cornell Men
Nazareth Men
Cornell Women
Nazareth Women


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

It was a great opportunity to have both the meet at Cornell and the 'Conference Cup' at Nazareth this weekend!  You could make an argument that we have finished 'training camp;' some of the team have been putting in two-a-days for three weeks and are probably ready to spend a lot less time training and are actually looking forward to classes starting this Monday!
                                                                              
The highlight for us at the Cornell Upstate Challenge was clearly the multi-event athletes, six of whom hit SUNYAC conference meet standards.  They were led by senior Zach Kashmer, who finished the weekend with a pretty big PR that is 4th All-Time at Cortland, and that should be a performance that qualifies him for the NCAA Championships in North Carolina this March.  He's consistently been one of the hardest workers on the team, and it definitely showed this weekend.  Despite the accumulated fatigue from the hard winter session training, 'Kash' was at or near lifetime bests in a number of events, and is primed and ready to get the other events in line for upcoming contests.  In other event news from Cornell, freshman Marlee Angus had a strong opener for 2020 in the mile and 800.  The first distance race of the year is usually pretty rough, but she had pretty solid efforts in both events.  Freshman Jean-Andre Sassine also put in great work in his first collegiate meet in the triple jump.  Jean has worked very hard to improve his technique, but was limited from competing in December from illness, so to see him open up his career with a SUNYAC qualifying mark is very exciting!
 
Most of the team was on the bus very early on Saturday morning to make the trip to the Golisano Training Center at Nazareth College.  The meet format was pretty unique in that it had pairs of schools from various conferences matched up as 'teams' for the overall score.  It is nice to have a bit of variety in meets at times!  The facility presented our team with a great opportunity to get some quality efforts in.  While it would be hard to overstate how strong Brent DiVittorio's hurdle performance was today, we are still hopeful that more time can come off that performance in the future.   For the women, we had a number of great learning experiences in the jumps and throws as the team was working on implementing new techniques.  It can be very frustrating to change what you are used to, but these athletes are embracing the change and are understanding the long term value in what we are doing. 
 
Taylor Hunter had a very strong day in the sprints, running a lifetime best in the 60 along with one of her best 200 times ever.  In the distance events, Courtney Maurin shined in the mile and 800, while freshman McKenzie Dombroski put together a strong day in the 800 and as a leg on the 4 x 400 relay.  Freshman Stephanie Kiluba had a very nice hurdle race, just barely missing finals.  Ironically, freshman Brett Morse was also just out of finals in the hurdles, but did have a solid effort and a season;s best in the long jump.  We saw a great level of commitment out of our mid-distance runners (putting four men under 2 minutes is always a good thing), as well as from our long sprinters and 4 x 400 relays.  The work the team has been doing is paying off, and we are excited for our upcoming campaigns!