GREENSBORO, N.C. – SUNY Cortland junior Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) earned All-America honors in the pole vault with his fifth-place finish during Day 1 of the NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The three-day event is being held at the Irwin Belk Track.
 
Sorensen matched his career best by clearing 4.90 meters (16' 0.75"). He actually was tied with the fourth-place finisher Shawn Schindler of St. John's (Minn.), but Schindler was officially fourth and Sorensen fifth since Schindler cleared the height on his first try while Sorensen made it on his third attempt.
 
The top eight finishers earn All-America honors. Noah Zastrow of Wisconsin-Stout won the national title with a height of 5.10 meters (16' 8.75").
 
Senior Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) is currently in 13th place in the decathlon at the midway point of the competition. The last five events will be held on Friday. Kashmer has 3,446 points, just 130 below eighth place.
 
Kashmer scored 789 points in the 100-meter dash (11.33) and 781 points in the 400 meters (50.74). He also recorded 644 points in the high jump (1.82 meters/5' 11.5"), 628 points in the shot put (12.36 meters/40' 6.75"), and 604 points in the long jump (6.08 meters/19' 11.5").
 
Kashmer continues his decathlon competition Friday at 10 a.m. Also on Friday, Isaiah Brooks (Minoa/East Syracuse Minoa) and Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) will compete in the 110-meter hurdles preliminaries at 11:30 a.m., and on the women's side Aubrianna Lantrip (Phelps/Midlakes) and Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) compete in the high jump finals at 11:30 a.m.

Live Video
Live Results

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

I don't want to complain about sunny skies and very warm weather after a normal winter in Central New York, but it is probably fair to say that the conditions today were both gorgeous and a little draining. Zach Kashmer put together a very solid day one in the decathlete, especially considering that his last decathlon – which he needed to get into the NCAA Championships – was only completed a week ago!  He had a solid day overall, including a lifetime PR in the shot put. He's sitting a good place right now, especially with the idea that he might be a stronger day 2 performer than a day 1 performer.
 
Speaking of tomorrow, it's a big day for the Red Dragons!  Besides Kash in the decathlon, we have two ladies in the high jump in the morning (Aubrianna Lantrip and Danielle Fisk), and two men in the 110 meter hurdle trials in the afternoon (Isaiah Brooks and Aaron Jones). When you consider the sheer number of schools that sponsor track and field at the division III level, having two performers in the same event is quite an achievement for the program; for each of these student-athletes – including Zach Kashmer and Dane Sorensen (more on him next) – making the NCAA Championships after a year filled with restrictions and challenges is a pretty amazing achievement!  Since qualification is based on your time/height/distance and not anything else, when you have to compete against literally the rest of the country to make the NCAA meet it's an incredible achievement in a normal year; when doing it this year without an indoor season or the ability to practice prior to February 1st, it's a real measure of the work ethic and dedication of these young women and men to be here.
 
And speaking of Dane, what a great performance by Dane to be on the podium and finishing fifth in the nation for his first All-American honors! Dane definitely fought hard to put himself in the position to be on the podium through not only the course of the day, but also in terms of his entire season. What people on the outside don't know is that our beloved pole vault coach, Dr. Peter McGinnis, wasn't able to work with the program this year the way in which he normally would due to restrictions from the pandemic, although his video review and insights were invaluable, it's not the same as his being at practice! This put Dane in the position of working with a grumpier and less knowledgeable coach (me), as well as into a much bigger leadership role with the rest of the vaulters then he would have normally had. It was additional responsibility and an additional challenge that he was able to overcome in a pretty phenomenal way over the course of the semester, and from my perspective, makes his achievement today so much more meaningful.