AMHERST, N.Y. – The Cortland men's track and field team finished in third place out of 14 schools at the University at Buffalo Invitational. The Red Dragons scored 97 points, trailing only two Division I schools in the host Bulls along with Kent State. Utica (54), Daemen (37.5) and Division I Akron (32) rounded out the top six.
 
Alhagie Sesay (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) won the 200-meter dash (23.48) and finished seventh in the 100-meter dash (11.71). He also led off the 4x100-meter relay, which also featured Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs), Craig Denton (Albertson/Herricks) and Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech), that finished third in 42.57 seconds. That time ranks 39th nationally in Division III and fifth in the Atlantic region. Denton also finished third in the 200-meter dash (23.69) and Morse was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.47).
 
Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) was Cortland's other winner on the day with a distance of 13.46 meters (44' 2") in the triple jump. He also placed sixth in the long jump at 6.25 meters (20' 6.25").
 
Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) improved his standing to eighth nationally in Division III and second regionally in the pole vault with a second-place height of 4.80 meters (15' 9"). Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) was second in the 110-meter hurdles (15.35) and fourth in the pole vault (4.20 meters/13' 9.25"), and Amarian Hughes (Marlboro) finished second in the triple jump (13.27 meters/43' 6.5"). Hughes currently ranks 10th regionally in the triple jump and Brooks is 16th regionally in the pole vault.
 
Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) posted two scoring efforts with a fifth-place showing in the pole vault (4.05 meters/13' 3.5") and a seventh-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (16.01). David Soto (Warwick/Warwick Valley) was fifth of 37 in the 1,500 meters in 4:00.86, which ranks fifth regionally, and Mitchelle Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) was fifth in the hammer throw at 43.70 meters (143' 4").
 
Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) placed sixth of 31 in the 5,000 meters in 15:30.64 and Sam Haaland (Shokan/Onteora) was sixth in the pole vault at 3.75 meters (12' 3.5"). Ryan Serp (Commack/Fayetteville-Manlius) ended seventh in the 400 meters (52.56), Ben Richardson (Loudonville/Shaker) was seventh in the pole vault (3.75 meters/12' 3.5"), and Chris Blake (Red Creek) finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles (1:01.95).
 
Two other Red Dragons narrowly missed out on top-eight scoring finishes. Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) was ninth in the 1,500 meters (4:11.66) and Cabel McCandless (Lindenhurst) was ninth in the 5,000 meters (15:50.48).
 
Cortland will return to action next Sunday at noon when it hosts the Cortland Classic. The women's portion of that meet will be held the previous day.

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

We appreciate UB Director of Track & Field and C-Club Hall of Fame Member Vicki Mitchell '91 extending the invitation and hosting us on a brisk and windy day! While our goal was to focus on individual performances as compared to a strong team score, we have to feel good about what both teams were able to do in the final standings!
 
The conditions were not great for strong performances in most events, as it was a very cold wind, and frequently in your face for the sprints. With the exception of the men's and women's 5ks – which went exceptionally well for both genders – we had to focus on the process and be less concerned about the process. From that perspective, we had a lot of good efforts, and team members competed quite well! The women's long jump is a perfect example, in that we had three individuals make the finals (Morgan Jipson, Abby McDowell, and Lauren Anderson) – not with their best jumps, but they were competing well and working on specific things to make them better jumpers in the future, which is all we can ask for on days like today! Alhagie Sesay had a similar experience in the 200 today – we really worked on executed our 'race model,' and ran away with the overall win. It wasn't his fastest time, but it was a great effort into a strong, cold headwind.
 
I definitely want to make mention of folks that had PRs or season's best today – especially Dane Sorensen in the pole vault, Ryan Serp in the 400, Cat Zamroz in the 1500, David Soto in the 1500, Matteson Donnelly in the triple jump, the men's 4x100m relay (Alhagie Sesay, Brett Morse, Craig Denton, and Aaron Jones), and nearly the entire 5k crew (Marlee Angus, Khalifah Tracey, Rachel Castello, Sydney Smith, Sophie Steger, and Aliesha Howard for the women, and Mike Verde, Cabel McCandless, and Dan Gross).
 
We return to hosting again this weekend, with the Cortland Classic on Saturday 4/24 and Sunday 4/25.