STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. and SELINSGROVE, PA. – Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) posted a national top-10 time in the 60-meter hurdles and earned one of 12 Cortland All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks as the Red Dragons sent athletes to two men's and track and field meets over the weekend.
 
Cortland sent part of its team to the Fasttrack National Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island Friday and part to the Susquehanna University Invitational in Pennsylvania Saturday.
 
Fasttrack National Invitational Highlights:
 
Morse finished fourth of 29 in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.22 seconds. The time currently ranks 10th nationally in Division III and second in the AARTFC. Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) was fifth in the event with an AARTFC time of 8.35 seconds.
 
Jones and Morse were also the Red Dragons' top two finishers in the 200-meter dash - Jones with an AARTFC time of 22.37 seconds for 13th place out of 138 entrants, and Morse in 34th place at 22.93 seconds.
 
Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) won the pole vault with a height of 4.80 meters (15' 9") and Zach Nyhart (Hamburg) finished third at 4.65 meters (15' 3"), both AARTFC heights. Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) was fourth of 57 in the 3,000 meters (8:38.98), Ryan Cory (Beacon) placed fourth of 61 in the mile (4:15.07), Malachi Williams (New Haven, CT/Amistad Academy) was 11th of 30 in the 60-meter dash (7.10), and Rich Samuels (Wallkill) placed 11th of 105 in the 800 meters (1:56.19) to round out Cortland's individual AARTFC performers.
 
Also hitting an AARTFC mark was Cortland's winning 4x400-meter relay team of Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame), Evan Jensen (Red Hook), Justin Schrom (Richmondville/Cobleskill-Richmondville) and Samuels with their time of 3:22.55.
 
Jensen was Cortland's top finisher in the 400 meters in 23rd place out of 114 runners in 50.82 seconds. Harry Tomasi (Port Jervis) finished 22nd in the 3,000 meters (8:58.99) and Hunter Braun (Victor) was 25th in the 800 meters (1:58.42).
 
Susquehanna Invitational Highlights:
 
Amarian Hughes (Marlboro) and Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) led Cortland's performers at Susquehanna with AARTFC marks. Hughes won the triple jump in a field of 26 competitors at 13.82 meters (45' 4.25") and Makowski was fourth of 36 in the weight throw at 15.24 meters (50' 0").
 
Makowski also finished eighth of 48 in the shot put (13.52 meters/44' 4.25"), followed by Tommy Burek (Latham/Shaker) in ninth (13.24 meters/43' 5.25"). Burek was fifth in the weight throw at 14.37 meters (47' 1.75").
 
Clay Santiago (Bethpage) finished fifth of 61 in the 800 meters (2:01.64) and sixth of 49 in the mile (4:33.76). Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) ended fifth of 30 in the long jump with a distance of 6.56 meters (21' 6.25").
 
Brandon Root (Bellmore/John F. Kennedy) turned in a sixth-place showing in the 60-meter hurdles (8.89), a seventh place effort out of 41 athletes in the 400 meters (53.33), and an 11th place finish out of 55 in the 200-meter dash (24.19). Ryan Serp (Commack/Fayetteville-Manlius) was ninth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.01), 10th in the 200 meters (24.17) and 15th in the 400 meters (54.58). In addition, Rob Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) led Cortland in the 5,000 meters with a ninth-place effort out of 36 runners (16:09.80).
 
Cortland will send athletes next week to either Nazareth on Friday or Cornell on Saturday.

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

We're really fortunate to have the support as a program to have two overnight meets this weekend. Having that flexibility does wonders for us in terms of allowing our folks to compete where the opportunities are best for them. One of the biggest challenges for us is that this was the first overnight track and field meet for most of the team in two years. The travel and excitement associated with being in big meets can also be stressful; a lot of our performances while strong weren't quite what we were looking for. The good aspect is that we are getting those jitters out of the way now before the championship meets coming up.

We did have some performers that really excelled at both meets. Marlee Angus had a really strong mile for us at Ocean Breeze, while Clay Santiago excelled in his efforts in both the mile and 800 at Susquehanna. Our jumpers and vaulters at Ocean Breeze put together a great day in terms of how we approached the competition, and all did quite well. They are putting the pieces together to have some big performances!

At Susquehanna, Roland Zanger hit a big PR in the long jump to move well up the conference list, while Laura Suppa opened her collegiate career with a strong jump to reach the 5-meter barrier.

Our men's 1600 relay at Ocean Breeze won in pretty dominant fashion, which is always fun to do. And we saw some excellent performances at Susquehanna in the throws, as Sarah Parr hit a big PR in the weight while Mitchell Makowski had a career best in the shot.