CORTLAND, N.Y. – Four Red Dragons won league titles, including Zach Kashmer (Chili/Churchville-Chili) successfully defending his title in the decathlon, as Cortland finished in third place at the 2021 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The meet was conducted Friday and Saturday at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex.
 
Geneseo won the league title with 229 points, followed by Brockport (197.5), Cortland (113), Fredonia (30), Buffalo State (22.5), Oneonta (22), Oswego (21), Potsdam (10) and Plattsburgh (5). Due to a temporary 25 percent reduction in the championship field size this spring, scoring was limited to the top six places in events with a 10-8-6-4-2-1 point system.
 
In addition to Kashmer, Isaiah Brooks (Minoa-East Syracuse Minoa) was the champion in the 110-meter hurdles, Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) won the 200-meter dash, and Dane Sorensen captured the title in the pole vault.
 
Kashmer won the decathlon with a score of 6,271 points. He was also the league champion in 2019, the last time the meet was conducted. Kashmer finished first in six of the 10 events. He scored 797 points in the 110-meter hurdles (15.44), 753 points in the 100-meter dash (11.50), 748 points in the 400-meter dash (51.47) and 702 points in the pole vault (4.30 meters/14' 1.25"). His other wins came in the shot put (12.17 meters/39' 11.25") and the discus (31.88 meters/104' 7"). He currently ranks first in the Atlantic region and 17th nationally in Division III in the decathlon.
 
Brooks won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.61 seconds and currently ranks 12th nationally and first regionally. He was also the runner-up in the pole vault at 4.55 meters (14' 11"), which ranks sixth regionally.
 
Jones won the 200-meter dash in 22.13 seconds, which ranks 12th regionally. He also was second in the 110-meter hurdles prelims in 14.81 seconds, which ranks second regionally and 22nd nationally, but did not finish in the finals.
 
Sorensen cleared 4.80 meters (15' 9") to win the pole vault. He's already ranked ninth nationally and second regionally based on his 4.85-meter performance from a week ago.
 
The 4x100-meter relay team of Alhagie Sesay (Buffalo/Hutch Tech), Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs), Craig Denton (Albertson/Herricks) and Jones finished second in 42.75 seconds, which ranks 14th regionally. Morse was also second in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.86 seconds, which is 28th nationally and fifth regionally. Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) was the runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:37.85; he ranks sixth regionally in the event.
 
Amarian Hughes (Marlboro) earned a pair of third-place finishes with a triple jump of 14.13 meters (46' 4.25") and a javelin throw of 41.89 meters (137' 5"). His triple jump ranks 31st nationally and sixth in the region. Ryan Serp (Commack/Fayetteville-Manlius) was third in the decathlon with 5,223 points. he scored 723 points in the 100-meter dash (11.64), 719 points in the 110-meter hurdles (16.12), and 669 points in the 400-meter dash (53.29). Serp's decathlon score ranks 10th regionally.
 
The top three finishers in each event earned All-SUNYAC honors, with winners being named first team, runners-up second team and third-place finishers third team.
 
Other scoring performances for the Red Dragons included:
 
* David Soto (Warwick/Warwick Valley) with fourth-place showings in both the 800 meters (1:58.31) and 1,500 meters (4:05.29)
 
* Sam Haaland (Shokan/Onteora) in fourth place in the pole vault (4.10 meters/13' 5.25")
 
* Wendell Brand (Sleepy Hollow) in fourth place in the triple jump (13.91 meters/45' 7.75") and in fifth place in the long jump (6.58 meters/21' 7.25")
 
* Morse in fifth place in the 200-meter dash (22.49; ranked 18th regionally)
 
* The 4x400-meter relay team of Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian), Justin Schrom (Richmondville/Cobleskill-Richmondville), John Nethercott (Fayetteville/Fayetteville-Manlius) and Clayton Santiago (Bethpage) in fifth place (3:28.88)
 
* Chris Blake (Red Creek) in sixth place in the 400-meter hurdles (59.03)
 
Also of note, Sesay qualified for the finals in the 100-meter dash in 11.22 seconds and was seventh in the finals in 11.32 seconds, and Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame) qualified for the finals in the 400-meter dash in 50.72 seconds and was eighth in the finals in 50.90 seconds
 
In addition, Dan Gross (East Moriches/Center Moriches) was honored with the SUNYAC's Men's Outdoor Track and Field "Elite 20" award, which goes to the student-athlete at each conference championship finals site with the highest overall grade point average. Gross is a geography major with a 3.96 overall GPA entering the 2021 spring semester.
 
Cortland is scheduled to send competitors to the Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks Capstone Meet on Friday.


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

We're obviously proud of our conference champions (Kimmy, Dane, Isaiah, Taylor, Danielle, Aaron, and Zach); we had a lot of very strong efforts over the course of the weekend that were really exciting and encouraging signs for the future! On Friday, freshman Sydney Smith ran a great 10k – her second ever – to have a huge personal best. It was easily her best effort of the season, and a great building block for the future. Alyssa LaBelle, returning from an injury, was able to qualify for the finals in both the 100 and the 200; Coltrane Goring was able to fight to earn a spot in the 400 finals even after not being cleared to train for a number of weeks. 
 
Steeplechase was a strong event for the Red Dragons to open the day on Saturday; in addition to our two all-conference performances, the run by Aliesha Howard to be a 'scorer' in the women's race was fantastic! She made a bold move in the last third of the race that paid of wonderfully! Abby McDowell picked the right day to have a collegiate best to earn a scoring position in the triple jump. Lauren Anderson's high hurdle race was a great way to finish her season as a 'scorer' at the conference level, also closing the year with a collegiate best!
 
The one athletic performance through the weekend that I would like to highlight a bit more was from freshman Amarian Hughes. On Friday Amarian earned a third place finish in the javelin, an event he started just a few weeks ago! On Saturday, he earned his second all-conference honors with third in the triple jump, breaking the 14-meter barrier (which is more or less the 46-foot barrier). That's certainly an impressive weekend!
 
One final note of congratulations goes to Dan Gross, who earned the 'Elite 20' award from the conference for academic excellence in men's track and field. We only got to spend 5 semesters with Dan as he transferred in after the fall of his freshman year and he is graduating an entire year early and has accepted a graduate assistant position at Binghamton University for next fall!
 
It's a pretty bittersweet day, in that for so many of the team, it's the end of the season. It's a lot of work to host, but we we're certainly happy to have had the opportunity to compete under somewhat 'normal' circumstances through this spring, and to have the opportunity to have a conference championship meet. We had a lot of help to make this season as well as the conference meet a success, and especially want to thank those that, like Dan, are moving on to bigger and better things as they finish their academic career at Cortland: Giuseppe Battista, Ryan Behre, Wendell Brand, Isaiah Brooks, Becca Gresens, Shannon Imbornoni, Zach Kashmer, Kendall Kennedy, Aubrianna Lantrip, Cabel McCandless, and Avery Tompkins. We appreciate how they have contributed to our program in their time here, and wish them the best in their future endeavors!