BROCKPORT, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team racked up nine All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying performances on the way to a third-place team finish at the Winter Welcome Back to Brockport Meet, hosted by SUNY Brockport.
 
In the tight team standings race, Geneseo finished first with 129 points, followed by Rochester (125.5) and Cortland (119), Brockport (108). Six schools competed.
 
The Red Dragons earned two AARTFC marks in each of four events. Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) led the way with a win out of 39 competitors in the 200-meter dash in 22.22 seconds. That mark ranks seventh nationally in NCAA Division III and first in the AARTFC. Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) placed third with an AARTFC time of 22.85 seconds.
 
Morse and Jones also had regional marks in the 60-meter hurdles. Morse finished first in the field of 22 hurdlers in 8.32 seconds and Jones was third in 8.38 seconds.
 
In the triple jump, Amarian Hughes (Marlboro) finished in third place with an AARTFC mark of 14.28 meters (46' 10.25") that presently ranks 11th nationally in Division III. Eli Craddock (Norwich) finished in fourth place at 13.42 meters (44' 0'5"). In the pole vault, Zach Nyhart (Hamburg) won the event over 16 other competitors at 4.55 meters (14' 11") and Sam Haaland (Shokan/Onteora) was third at 4.40 meters (14' 5.25"), both AARTFC qualifiers. Haaland was actually tied for the second best height but finished third due to number of misses at the final cleared height.
 
Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) also reached AARTFC qualifying status with a third place finish out of 26 competitors in the weight throw with a distance of 15.73 meters (51' 7.25"). He was 10th of 26 in the shot put at 12.33 meters (40' 5.5").
 
Twelve other Red Dragons scored at the meet with top-eight finishes. Four of those came in the 400 meters as Justin Schrom (Richmondville/Cobleskill-Richmondville) was second in 52.08 seconds, followed by Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) in third (52.29), Evan Jensen (Red Hook) in fourth (52.48) and Michael Eubanks (Islip) in fifth (52.67).
 
Malachi Williams (New Haven, CT/Amistad Academy) placed third of 27 in the 60-meter dash in 7.17 seconds, while Hagie Sesay (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) was sixth in the event in 7.29 seconds. Sesay was sixth in the 200-meter dash (23.14) and Schrom was eighth (23.27).
 
Rich Samuels (Wallkill) finished third in a field of 27 runners in the 800 meters in 1:58.68. Ryan Cory (Beacon) was fifth in the event at 1:59.74. Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) ended third in the high jump by clearing 1.86 meters (6' 1.25"). He was part of a three-way tie for third place, but officially finished third alone since his top height came on his first attempt. Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) earned a seventh place finish out of 31 runners in the mile with a time of 4:29.92.
 
Cortland heads back to the Rochester area next weekend for the Nazareth Conference Challenge Cup and Multi.

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

It's really nice to be able to see tangible progress being made! The winter session training has been long and strenuous, and even though most of the team is pretty 'flat' after all the hard work, we saw some excellent performances today. We're definitely excited to see what happens over the next couple of weeks as we recovery from winter session and see some significant increases in physical capabilities.
 
We had a number of folks that were held out of competing for a number of reasons, so we aren't close to representing our program at full strength yet.
 
A very unusual thing happened with this meet – all of our event groups performed well! Usually one or two groups don't have a stellar day, for a wide range of reasons, but that wasn't the case today. I'm probably most impressed with individuals that hit collegiate personal bests today across a range of events! For the women, the following individuals all performed 'better than ever':

Samantha Becker (in the 400), Kat Burgess (in the 400), Matteson Donnelly (in the 60), Devin Griffin (in the 60 high hurdles), Avery Hebert (in the 200), Amanada Mannino (in both the 200 and the 400), Abigail McDowell (in the 60 and the triple jump), Katherine McDowell (in the 400), Faith Nelson (in the 60), Sarah Parr (in both shot put and weight throw), Maris Seabury (in the 400), and Liz Spencer (in the weight throw).

For the men, the list of those with PRs is: Ryan Cory (in the 800), Craig Denton (for a flat-track 200), Sam Haaland (in the pole vault), Amarian Hughes (in the triple jump), Aaron Jones (in the 200), Doug Knapp (in both the 200 and 400), Mitch Makowski (in the weight throw), Brett Morse (in the 200), Justin Schrom (in both the 200 and 400), Hagie Sesay (for a flat-track 200), Malachi Williams (in the 60), and Roland Zanger (in the high jump).

That's quite a list – probably a little too long for you, our reader – and I may have missed somebody. But I really want to emphasize what excellent work this team is doing, and it isn't always tied to qualification standards for the championship meets. I will point out that our throwers went 3-for-3 in the weight throw today, as all three Red Dragons set new personal bests in the event.
 
The 'Conference Cup' on the 29th hosted by Nazareth College should be a really fun experience for us. It's a great facility, and strong competition in a format of two teams that are scored 'together' against other conferences. The inaugural event in 2020 was a wonderful success.