BOSTON, MASS. and ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team, ranked seventh nationally in Division III, posted a pair of top-12 nationally ranked relay times and numerous regional qualifying efforts at two meets over the weekend. The Red Dragons sent a handful of competitors to the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational Friday and Saturday and others to the Cornell University Sunday Invitational.

In Boston, the combination of Ryan Konotopskyj (East Amherst/Williamsville North), Connor Lewis (Glen Ridge), Rich Samuels (Wallkill) and Nolan Vest (Coram/Longwood) finished seventh in the distance medley relay with a time of 10:06.30 that ranks eighth nationally and third in the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC). Peyton Lalone (Ogdensburg/Ogdensburg Free Academy), Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame), Lewis and Samuels placed sixth of 53 in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:17.14, which currently ranks 11th nationally and third in the AARTFC.

Lalone finished 51st of 231 in the 200-meter dash in 22.22 seconds, with Liam Joyce (Dryden) 70th in 22.38 seconds. Both are AARTFC qualifiers. Samuels ranks sixth in the AARTFC and 35th nationally after placing 71st of 291 in the 800 meters in 1:54.37. Three Red Dragons met AARTFC marks in the 400-meter dash. Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) was 79th of 236 in 49.90 seconds, Goring finished 94th in 50.15 seconds, and Lewis placed 98th in 50.22 seconds.

At Cornell, Brent DiVittorio (Brewster) won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.19 seconds, Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) was third with personal-best 8.38 seconds and Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) finished fourth in 8.62 seconds. DiVittorio already ranked fourth nationally and first in the AARTFC with a previous effort this season. Brooks' effort is ranked sixth in the region and 38th nationally. Morse's time is also an AARTFC qualifier, as was Malik Hinds' (Bay Shore) time of 8.63 seconds in the preliminaries. He was fifth in the prelims but did not run in the finals.

Micah Assibey-Bonsu (Central Islip) finished second in the triple jump (14.25 meters/46' 9"), David Bernstein (Norwich) was second in the weight throw (16.50 meters/54' 1.75"), Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) placed third in the weight throw (15.14 meters/49' 8.25") and Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) finished fourth in the pole vault (4.67 meters/15' 3.75"). All three were already AARTFC qualifiers prior to the meet.

Three Red Dragons finished in the top half of the 200-meter dash. Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) was third of 26 in 23.27 seconds. Morse was fifth (23.38) and Brandon Gibbs (Poughkeepsie/Arlington) finished 12th (24.77). Bryan Finn (Fonda/Fonda-Fultonville) and Tiernan Joseph (Chenango/Chenango Forks) finished fourth (13.62 meters/44' 8.25") and fifth (12.86 meters/42' 2.25"), respectively, in the shot put. Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) was fourth in the 3,000 meters (9:13.54), followed by Chad Dunham (Central Square/Paul V. Moore) in fifth (9:18.25).

Other highlights at Cornell for the Red Dragons included Josh Nogaret (New Berlin/Unadilla Valley) placing fifth overall of 24 (third collegiate) in the mile (4:30.44), Hinds finishing seventh in the long jump (6.41 meters/21' 0.5"), Harry Tomasi (Port Jervis) finishing ninth of 18 in the 800 meters (2:07.72), Ryan Serp (Commack/Fayetteville-Manlius) ending 10th of 20 in the 60-meter dash (7.54), and Brooks placing 11th in the pole vault (4.07 meters/13' 4.25").

Cortland heads to the Nazareth Conference Tune-up Invitational next Friday and the Cornell Deneault Invitational next Saturday.

Complete Results:
Boston U. Men
Cornell Men
Boston U. Women
Cornell Women

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

This weekend is always a very long weekend of track and field, which is pretty cool!  We're fortunate to have the opportunity and the support to get the people that are best served by going to Boston University out to that meet, and to have the opportunity to get the folks that would benefit the most from competing at Cornell to that meet.  Each facility and meet has advantages for different events, which is very good for us to take advantage of!
 
At Boston, an obvious highlight to mention is Taylor Hunter breaking the Cortland school record in the 200.  Any time you have gone faster than everybody before you, it is a pretty good sign that the hard work is paying off!  Rich Samuels put together a pretty strong weekend as well, running 1:54 in the 800 both in the DMR on Friday night, and then about 13 hours later in the open 800 is a pretty good double!  Finishing off the weekend with a 48-flat anchor leg in the 4x400 is a pretty big deal as well!
 
For both the women and men, the 200s and 400s were pretty strong at Boston, and the mid-distance events gave us some strong positive movement forward.  Besides Taylor's 200, both of our men's relays (the 4x400 and the DMR) finished off the weekend with the #3 performance in Cortland history, and a pretty high NCAA ranking.  It's also exciting in that as good as many of our performances were, there is a lot of room for continued improvement!
 
We had a lot of good things happen at Cornell on Sunday, as well.  Isaiah Brooks put together a strong day with a solid pole vault effort, followed by a lifetime PR in the 60HH.  Dane Sorensen continued his progression back from an injury that kept him away from training, clearing a solid height and taking great attempts all day long.  Our men's distance squad had some really nice efforts, as Mike Verde ran a lifetime best in the 3000, and Josh Nogaret cranked out a really strong performance in the mile!  Nicole Van Pelt had a lifetime best in the high jump, and is really looking ready to progress to higher heights; freshman Jada Williams had a big PR in the 60 today that moved her well up the conference performance list.  Finally, freshman Rachel Castello closed the day with a huge PR in the 3000.  Compared to her best performance in high school, she has taken 80 seconds off of her best so far.  That's quite an accomplishment!
 
We're looking forward to getting ready for the SUNYAC Championship meet on February 28th and 29th; this upcoming weekend the squad will split between Nazareth College on Friday and a return to Cornell on Saturday.