ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team opened its 2022-23 season Saturday at the Cornell University Greg Page Relays.
 
The Red Dragons recorded 10 performances that meet All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) standards. Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) and Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) each posted two of those efforts. Morse was sixth out of 31 competitors in the 60-meter hurdles (8.18) and seventh of 31 in the long jump at 6.77 meters (22' 2.5"). His hurdles time would have tied for 12th on last year's indoor national qualifying list. Brunache finished fourth of 30 in the shot put at 14.69 meters (48' 2.5") and sixth of 29 in the weight throw at 16.54 meters (54' 3.25").
 
Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) finished third out of 22 in the pole vault at 4.92 meters (16' 1.75"), an AARTFC height that would have tied for eighth on last year's national qualifying chart.
 
Cortland had two AARTFC qualifiers in the triple jump. Amarian Hughes (Marlboro) finished second at 14.24 meters (46' 8.75") and Jean-Andre Sassine (Queens Village/The Lawrenceville School (NJ)) was fifth with a distance of 13.70 meters (44' 11.5"). Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) finished second of 27 in the 3,000 meters with an AARTFC time of 8:42.57. Ryan Serp (Commack/Fayetteville-Manlius) hit an AARTFC mark in the 60-meter hurdles with his 14th-place time of 8.58 seconds and Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) met the standard with his seventh-place weight throw of 16.15 meters (53' 0").
 
Evan Jensen (Red Hook) finished 10th of out 99 competitors in the 300-meter dash (35.50) and was 28th of 86 in the 60-meter dash (7.21). Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame) was 11th in the 300 (35.55) and 23rd in the 60 (7.18), while Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) finished 14th in the 300 (35.62) and 29th in the 60 (7.22). Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) and Brandon Root (Bellmore/John F. Kennedy) ended 19th (36.09) and 27th (36.59), respectively, in the 300, which is not an AARTFC event.
 
Six Red Dragons finished in the top half of the field in the 3,000 meters. In addition to Brignall, Harry Tomasi (Port Jervis) was fourth (9:00.43), Robert Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) was sixth (9:16.59), Marc Lucasey (Dobbs Ferry) placed 10th (9:22.34), Matthew Mullen (Mastic/William Floyd) was 12th (9:24.31) and Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) finished 13th (9:25.22).
 
In addition to Brunache, three other Red Dragons were in the top half of the shot put field. Makowski finished ninth (13.23 meters/43' 5"), Nick LaRocque (Millbrook) finished 12th (12.49 meters/40' 11.75") and Tommy Burek (Latham/Shaker) was 15th (11.69 meters/38' 4.25"). Burek also finished 14th in the weight throw (13.17 meters/43' 2.5").
 
Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) finished 13th in the long jump at 6.31 meters (20' 8.5"), followed by Serp in 14th place at 6.28 meters (20' 7.25"). Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) was eighth in the high jump at 1.80 meters (5' 10.75"). Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) and Nate Wilsoncroft (Horseheads) finished fifth (1:08.04) and sixth (1:08.54), respectively, out of 21 in the 500 meters. Wilsoncroft, Mike Alvarez (New Windsor/Newburgh Free Academy), Clayton Santiago (Bethpage) and Szabo finished seventh of 16 in the 4x400-meter relay (3:36.08).
 
Cortland competes on Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Utica University Holiday Classic.

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

We had quite a nice opening effort at Cornell to start off the 2022 – 2023 track and field season! The first meet in particular can be quite stressful, as a number of our athletes have a lot of self-imposed pressure. The new folks can be understandably quite nervous, and the returners (especially the seniors) can put a lot of pressure on themselves to really have a great performance. Despite that, we had a number of very good efforts that also lead to some great performances.
 
For the Lady Red Dragons, Liz Liriano had a very strong day with her performance in the 60 to lead a strong Cortland contingent, but was more impressive in the 300 where she posted a new PR that is make her the fourth-fastest ever at Cortland. Having three other ladies under 45 seconds on the day is a very nice benchmark to start the season off on the right foot. The distance squad worked well together to post some nice early-season times in the 3000; often transitioning to the shorter races after cross country can be a challenge, so having a group of solid efforts was nice to see. Last but certainly not least, firstyear Megan Spencer hit new lifetime best in the weight throw with a distance that would have been in our all-time top- five…except that teammate Sarah Parr had a PR of nearly five feet in the event to move into the  fourth-place spot on our all-time lists.
 
The men's distance squad also had some strong performances to start the day in the 3000, led by Hunter Brignall's very strong effort. While not a top-five worthy performance, Brett Morse certainly opened his campaign in style with two PRs in the 60HH – his previous PR was ranked 19th in the NCAA last year, so being faster than that to start this year's season is a nice credit to what he has been working on. The men's 300 showed a lot of depth – Evan Jensen edged out Coltrane Goring to take over the 5th spot on the all-time list over Coltrane's best from last February, but our depth – as evidenced by strong runs from Aaron Jones, firstyear Harrison Gavalas, and returners Brandon Root and Doug Knapp was great to see. As with the women, the men's weight throw featured strong depth as firstyear Isaiah Brunache opened his career with a throw that earned him a spot in our all-time top five; the depth in men's triple jump led by Amarian Hughes was a pretty strong display as well! But the singular elite performance on the day probably belongs to Dane Sorensen, who vaulted a lifetime best to move into sole possession of second on our all-time list; that jump would have been tied for 8th nationally last year. That's quite a way to open your senior season!
 
We consider ourselves fortunate to have the opportunity to head to compete at Utica University this upcoming Saturday. It's always great when our academic calendar allows for two meets prior to the winter break.