GENESEO, N.Y. – Ryan Cory (Beacon) finished in first place and was one of three Cortland runners to earn all-region honors at the NCAA Division III Niagara Region (Region 3) Men's Cross Country Championships, hosted by Geneseo at the National Warplane Museum.
 
Cory earned a trip to next weekend's NCAA Division III Championships in Louisville with his winning time of 25 minutes, 27.7 seconds over 8,000 meters in rainy conditions. Brockport's Ethan Carey finished second in 25:31.0 and Geneseo's Ezra Ruggles was third in 25:35.7. Cory's time was 21 seconds faster than his effort six weeks ago on the same course at Geneseo's Mike Woods Invitational - a race in which he was a minute and 38 seconds behind Ruggles and 13 seconds behind Carey.
 
Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) and Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) were Cortland's other two all-region performers by virtue of their top-35 finishes in the 159-runner field. Verde placed 21st in 26:00.6 and Brignall was 35th in 26:26.5, earning the last all-region slot by two tenths of a second.
 
The next two Cortland finishers were both in the half of the field. RJ Davis (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) crossed the line in 43rd place in 26:43.6 and Gavin Watkins (Endicott/Owego Free Academy) was 68th in 27:29.2.
 
Cortland finished fifth out of 22 schools in the final team standings with 167 points. Geneseo won the title with 28 points, easily ahead of Rochester's runner-up score of 122 points and Hamilton's 127 points. Under the new NCAA format this year, the team winner from each of 10 regional championships earns an automatic berth to nationals, with the remaining 22 spots chosen on an at-large basis by a national committee. Once the 32 teams are determined, the top seven individual finishers from each regional not on a qualifying team will advance to the national championship. Cortland is unlikely to earn a team berth to nationals, leaving Cory as a guaranteed individual qualifier.

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

Bittersweet is probably the best word I can come up with to describe the day. The women's team probably had their best team effort of the season, which is certainly encouraging! There's still a lot of room to grow as a program, but today was a tremendous step in the right direction for us. I'm thrilled that the team embraced what we were trying to work on after the SUNYAC championships, and the results provided nice tangible evidence, as we pretty handily beat teams that had beaten us there.

Even though every aspect didn't work out they way we thought they could have, it was a great way to end the season, especially considering that this was the first season of collegiate cross country for three of the seven ladies; only senior, Cat Zamroz, had run in the regional championships before during her career! Obviously for Cat to finish her career as an all-regional performer is outstanding, and for Rachel Castello, in her first regional championships, to also earn all-regional honors is wonderful as well! Both moved up the entire race, as did Marlee Angus, which is the way we emphasize racing.
 
Certainly having the regional champion on the men's side is thrilling, and knowing that Ryan Cory has earned his trip to the NCAA Championships next weekend in Louisville, Kentucky is also exciting! Ryan ran a very tough and very smart race to move up through the field, he was in 85th at the 1000-meter split, about 13 seconds off the lead, but nearly right on his pace for the race. By the 4000-meter mark, he was less than two seconds off the lead, and had them squarely in his sights.  It was a mature, patient, and tough effort by him, and it was a well-deserved victory!

Having two other men – Mike Verde and Hunter Brignall – earn all-regional honors is great achievement as well. RJ Davis put together his third great effort in four weeks, and was the 6th-highest true freshman in the race, which is a pretty good accomplishment; fifth man Gavin Watkins ran the second-fastest time of his career on a course that was somewhat slippery, so he certainly had a strong effort on the day as well! We gave away a few points here and there on the day, but also know that the teams in front of us ran well. We raced tough and fought hard through the event, and have a lot to be proud of with the improvement we have made through the season.