ITHACA, N.Y. – The nationally seventh-ranked Cortland men's indoor track and field team showed off its depth with 15 All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying performances at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational.

The quartet of Peyton Lalone (Ogdensburg/Ogdensburg Free Academy), Jaheim Dotson (Coram/Longwood), Connor Lewis (Glen Ridge) and Rich Samuels (Wallkill) finished second in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:23.52 that's an AARTFC qualifier and currently ranks 13th nationally in Division III. Cortland also placed second in the 4x200-meter relay with Liam Joyce (Dryden), Chjuvaughn Cameron (Riverhead), Justin Arranz (North Babylon) and Craig Denton (Albertson/Herricks) finishing in 1:34.30 (that relay is an open event at the AARTFC meet so there is no qualifying standard).

Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) hit two AARTFC marks during the day. He was second of 30 in the long jump at 7.03 meters (23' 0.75"), which ranks 20th nationally, and he was fourth of 24 in the triple jump at 13.94 meters (45' 9"). Micah Assibey-Bonsu (Central Islip) also met the regional standard in the triple jump with his fifth-place distance of 13.91 meters (45' 7.75").

Lalone was one of three Red Dragons with regional performances in the 200-meter dash. He finished fourth out of 69 sprinters in 22.42 seconds to rank 16th nationally. Dotson was fifth in 22.73 seconds and Brent DiVittorio (Brewster) placed seventh in 22.90 seconds. DiVittorio also had the fastest time in the 60-meter hurdles in the preliminaries at 8.22 seconds. Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) met the AARTFC standard with his prelim time of 8.62 seconds and was sixth in the finals at 8.67 seconds.

Nolan Vest (Coram/Longwood) finished second out of 56 runners in the mile in 4:19.94 and presently ranks 25th nationally in the event. Dotson and Lewis each hit AARTFC marks in the 400-meter dash. Dotson was second of 32 in 50.86 seconds and Lewis placed fourth in 51.03 seconds. Samuels was fourth of 48 in the 800 meters in 1:57.56.

Also posting AARTFC qualifying efforts were Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) in the pole vault (third place, 4.40 meters/14' 5.25") and David Bernstein (Norwich) in the weight throw (15.98 meters/52' 5.25").

Cortland will head to Utica College next Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 8-9, for the Utica Blue & Orange Invitational and Multi.

Complete Results:
Men
Women

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

Big day for the Red Dragons!  Between the first week of classes and a hard week of training, we definitely had some tired legs out there today, but you wouldn't know it based on some of the stellar performances and efforts that we saw.  We also had a number of really good things happen in some field events that didn't necessarily translate into further distances, but were crucial steps to take moving forward.  While we always have room for improvement, it is hard not to be really excited about what happened out there today!
 
For the women's team, Taylor Hunter and Kelly Gardner had really strong efforts in the 200, both running season's bests!  We had a lot of depth in that event, as four women were separated by less than a tenth of a second! Jesse Correale and McKenzie Dombroski had very strong efforts – also both season's bests – in the 400 and mile, respectively, as did Malley Bowen in the 60HH, Kitty Tang in the long jump, and Athena Johnson in the weight throw. 
 
But if we had to narrow down to one highlight, it may have been the women's 3000.  Eliza Nichols had a great day running a very assertive race for a big season's best that moves her in the right direction after missing the fall with an injury; in the fast heat Courtney Maurin and Madison Ciuffetelli were not set up by the race to run well as it went out very fast; both committed to running strong, worked together, and were able to run down other competitors in the field who paid the price for the early pace – Maddie ran an easy season's best, and Courtney had an 18-second personal best!
 
On the men's side, there were a number of highlights to be proud of.  Our men's 200 and 400 showed off a great deal of depth – three men were under the 23-second barrier (Peyton Lalone, Jaheim Dotson, and Brent DiVittorio), with another nine guys under 24 seconds!  The open 400 was pretty deep as well, led by Jaheim with 50.86 and Connor Lewis sooooo close with a 51.03.  The depth showed off nicely in the 4x400 relay as Connor and Jaheim were joined by Peyton (who led off under 51 seconds) and Rich Samuels to run a season's best of 3:23.52.
 
We're really thrilled with the progress we saw in the jumps – Dane Sorensen improved on his season's best in the pole vault, as did Wendell Brand in the long jump and Ezra Schutt in the triple jump.  In many ways the highlight for the jumps would have to be freshman Jean-Andre Sassine, who had some fantastic jumps and set a lifetime best in his second collegiate meet!  Tiernen Joseph put together a great day in the throws – he had a very solid weight throw, which is a brand new event for him, and a big personal best in the shot put, moving over the 13-meter mark!
 
To close out our highlights, the men's 60HH was quite strong – not only from Brent DiVittorio, which we almost take for granted is going to happen, but also from Brett Morse, Malik Hinds, and Aaron Jones, who were all under the 9-second mark.  Finally the mile was a very good day for us.  Nolan Vest broke 4:20 on a flat track, which is a very strong performance especially for it being so early in the year.  He raced wonderfully, making a strong move to the front as the leaders slowed to keep his pace honest.  While he was outkicked, we're extremely happy that he went after it to keep the race fast rather than just sitting on a pack that was slowing and trying to kick.  That's a very tough skill to learn, and it is great to have that in place already!  With Ryan Konotopskyj (4:24), Clayton Santiago (4:30), Cameron Szabo (4:31 in his college mile debut), and Josh Nogaret (4:34 in his college mile debut) all running quite well today, it's hard not to be very excited about the depth we are showing in that event right now!
 
We're looking forward to a good week of work, and getting back into competition next week at 'the Hutt' in Utica, NY!