UTICA, N.Y. – Cortland earned six first-place finishes, including two by Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech), and the Red Dragons finished second out of 12 schools in the final team standings at the men's indoor track and field Utica College Holiday Classic. 
 
Cortland finished with 147 points, just three behind Brockport's 150. Utica was third with 78 points. The meet officially will conclude on Sunday with the completion of the heptathlon, but that event won't affect Brockport's or Cortland's team scores, and Utica's 78 points reflects the fact it will likely have the top heptathlon finisher based on remaining competition. 
 
Jones won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.25 seconds and took top honors out of 57 runners in the 200-meter dash in 22.26 seconds. As of Saturday evening he is tied for fourth nationally in Division III in the hurdles and ranks sixth in the 200. Zach Nyhart (Hamburg) won the pole vault at 4.70 meters (15' 5") and Amarian Hughes (Marlboro) was the top collegiate finisher, and second overall, in the triple jump at 13.94 meters (45' 9"). Hughes is eighth nationally in Division III in the triple jump as of Saturday night based on a previous effort, although his distance at Utica still would have ranked in the top 10.
 
Cortland finished first in a pair of relays. Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame), Michael Eubanks (Islip), Nate Wilsoncroft (Horseheads) and Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) won the 4x400-meter relay in 3:29.96, while Hagie Sesay (Buffalo/Hutch Tech), Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs), Zaire Higgins (Albany/Colonie) and Jones won the 4x200-meter relay in 1:30.82. 
 
Morse was the runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles (8.30) and sixth in the 200-meter dash (22.86). His hurdles time ranks him eighth nationally as of Saturday night. Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) finished second in the pole vault at 4.55 meters (14' 11"); he was one of two to clear that height, both on the third attempt, but he earned second based on fewer misses overall. Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) placed second in the mile run (4:28.50) and was third in the 800 meters (2:02.68).

Ryan Serp (Commack/Fayetteville-Manlius) was leading heptathlon after Day 1 with 2,392 points, but is not competing in Sunday's final three events. His top scores came in the 60-meter dash with 752 points (7.38 seconds) and the long jump with 635 points (6.22 meters/20' 5"). 
 
Goring led a group of six Red Dragons in the top 10 out of 25 in the 400 meters in 49.88 seconds. Justin Schrom (Richmondville/Cobleskill-Richmondville) was fourth (52.29), Eubanks placed sixth (52.49), Higgins was seventh (53.38), Wilsoncroft finished eighth (53.53) and Knapp was ninth (53.69). 
 
Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) was third out of 36 in the weight throw with a distance of 14.74 meters (48' 4.5") and Tommy Burek (Latham/Shaker) finished fifth at 14.56 meters (47' 9.25"). RJ Davis (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) and Tom Adamescu (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) placed fourth (16:41.12) and sixth (16:56.32), respectively, in the 5,000 meters, while Ben Fenton (Horseheads) and Matt Mullen (Mastic/William Floyd) were fifth (2:04.99) and seventh (2:05.70), respectively, in the 800 meters. Fenton also finished sixth in the mile (4:34.86). 
 
Cortland's second 4x200-meter relay team of Craig Denton (Albertson/Herricks), Alex Strack (Saranac), Zashon Abrams (Morrisonville/Saranac) and Schrom finished in fourth place (1:34.58). Sam Haaland (Shokan/Onteora) earned fifth-place points in the pole vault at 4.10 meters (13' 5.25"). Alex Daniel (Warsaw) placed seventh in the triple jump (12.26 meters/40' 2.75"), followed by Janric Arbeely (Brewster) in ninth place (11.96 meters/39' 3"). Sesay finished ninth in the 200-meter dash (23.38). 
 
Cortland's next competition will be on Jan. 15 when the Red Dragons return to Utica for the Utica Winter Opener.

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

We're very thankful to be able to end the fall semester with a second meet, but also understand that not everybody is in a position to have great performances. A number of folks are a bit worn down with the academic workload at the end of the semester, and weren't necessarily ready to perform at their best today.
 
We also certainly had a number of strong highlights today! Both Aaron Jones and Bridget Bennett put together stellar days competing in three different events. Obviously Aaron's performances were stellar to earn the victory and move put him in a great spot on the national rankings, but we are thrilled with Bridget, who was away from the sport since the indoor season of 2020 since she had a season-ending injury last spring and was unable to compete. She ran her second-best indoor time ever in the 400 for the victory, and was over a second faster than she had ever been on a flat indoor track before!
 
We had a tremendous number of strong performances today, and a number of these might not get notice to those who are taking a quick perusal of the results. In the pole vault, while neither had the performances they were looking for, both Sam Haaland and Kimmy Arena had great days. They both competed well, and are dealing with the transition to new poles because of what they are doing correctly. It's frustrating for Sam jumping a lot lower than last weekend, and for Kimmy not clearing her opening height, but evidence of great progress. Danielle Fisk – who was playing in the NCAA tournament with the women's volleyball team just a few weeks ago – made a tremendous breakthrough in the high jump with her approach, even if the results don't show it. Multi-event athlete Devin Griffin had a PR in the long jump by a foot, which was overshadowed by fellow multi Ryan Serp who had PRs in the 60, LJ, and Shot Put during the first day of the heptathlon. We had planned to not return for day 2, but now I'm regretting it a bit! Liz Spencer and Tommy Burek both had great PRs in the weight throw, and we showed tremendous depth in the long sprints for both teams. The results won't strongly point out how well Liz Liriano, Samantha Becker, Mike Eubanks, or Justin Schrom did today – all made tremendous progress that we're really excited about!
 
There's a lot more that should get mentioned (like the strong mile from Cat Zamroz, the great double in the mile and 800 by Hunter Brignall, the stellar open 400 by Coltrane Goring, our strong day in triple jump, or the great men's 4 x 200 relay), but this is starting to be a little self-indulgent. The squad has a very low-key week of training this upcoming week with the focus on final exams, but are already looking forward to returning to practice on January 2nd, 2022.