WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Dane Sorensen's (Warwick/Warwick Valley) ninth-place finish in the pole vault led Cortland's performances during Friday's opening day of competition at the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships at the JDL Fast Track arena.
 
Sorensen narrowly missed All-American honors, which go to the top eight finishers in each event. He was one of three competitors tied for the seventh-best height at 4.85 meters (15' 11"). However, one athlete cleared that height on the first try and finished seventh. Sorensen was one of two to clear it on his third attempt, but based on total misses the other competitor was eighth and Sorensen was ninth. Southern Maine's Ben Drummey won the national title at 5.05 meters (16' 6.75").
 
Zach Nyhart (Hamburg) finished in 17th place in the pole vault at 4.50 meters (14' 9"). There was a four-way tie for the 14th through 17th slots, but Nyhart recorded his clearance on his third try and the others were successful earlier, putting Nyhart in 17th place.
 
Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) and Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) finished 12th and 17th, respectively, in the 60-meter hurdles preliminaries. Morse was clocked in 8.31 seconds and Jones finished in 8.39 seconds. The cutoff to qualify for Saturday's finals was 8.17 seconds.
 
Ryan Cory (Beacon) will compete for Cortland Saturday in the 3,000-meter finals at 4:45 p.m.

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

It's hard not to be disappointed on the day, since so much of the meet is based around being on the podium as an All-American. But I firmly believe that the four gentlemen that competed today did so in a very good fashion and are leaving with some good learning lessons.
 
In my opinion, Dane competed the toughest of his career today, as he has been battling through some health issues over the past few weeks. His last NCAA indoor meet was in 2019, so it isn't like he has been at one of these recently.
 
Aaron, Brett, and Zach are all at their first indoor national meet, and almost anybody who has competed at one of these will tell you that it can be a very nerve-wracking experience. All three guys responded fairly well to the challenge; the learning that they can take away from today can definitely help to propel us forward. Even though we had dreamed of a better result, I'm proud of what these guys have done over the course of the season, and on how that reflects positively on the things the entire team is doing.
 
We're excited about Ryan's race tomorrow!