CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team notched 12 victories and nine runner-up finishes at the Cortland Red Dragon Open and Multi, held Saturday and Sunday at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex. Eight of the 12 wins featured All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying performances.
 
The 4x100-meter relay team of Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs), Evan Jensen (Red Hook), Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame) and Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) won with a time of 42.37 seconds that currently ranks third in the AARTFC. Goring met the AARTFC standard with his win in the 400-meter dash (49.82) and Morse did the same with his win in the 110-meter hurdles (15.12).
 
Rich Samuels (Wallkill) won in a field of 37 runners in the 800 meters with his AARTFC time of 1:56.02 and Ryan Cory (Beacon) won the 1,500 meters with an AARTFC time of 4:01.44.
 
Cortland's other AARTFC-qualifying victories included Brandon Root (Bellmore/John F. Kennedy) in the 400-meter hurdles (56.08), Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:54.59), and Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) in the hammer throw (51.28 meters/168' 3").
 
Makowski also won the shot put (12.88 meters/42' 3.25"). Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) won the high jump (1.83 meters/6' 0") and was second in the 110-meter hurdles (16.91), Gavin Watkins (Endicott/Owego Free Academy) was victorious in the 10,000 meters (34:25.13), followed by Adam Schreiber (Williamson) in second (34:54.28), and Jean-Andre Sassine (Queens Village/The Lawrenceville School) was victorious in the triple jump (13.43 meters/44' 0.75").
 
Tommy Burek (Latham/Shaker) placed second in the shot put (12.87 meters/42' 2.75") and the discus (38.15 meters/125' 2"), and the 4x400-meter relay unit of Michael Eubanks (Islip), Justin Schrom (Richmondville/Cobleskill-Richmondville), Cory and Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) was second in 3:30.38.
 
Cortland's other runner-up finishers included: Jensen in the 400-meter dash (50.29); David Soto (Warwick/Warwick Valley) in the 1,500 meters (4:03.44); Ryan Joule (Staten Island/Susan B. Wagner) in the javelin throw (44.03 meters/144' 5"); and Alex Brodmerkel (West Babylon) in the 5,000 meters (17:25.15).

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

For the most part the weather stayed reasonable for our meet on Saturday, which was quite a pleasant surprise considering what the forecast looked like. We did have about 10 minutes of pea-size hail, which might qualify as the worst weather I've ever seen at a track meet. Thankfully it was only short-lived and melted off pretty quickly!
 
It was still pretty cold, and not necessarily ideal for performances, but that didn't stop the Red Dragons! What I'm most impressed over the day was the way in which we went about competing – we did the right things in terms of getting warmed up, executing our race plans/strategies/technique, and being prepared for the opportunities that we had. We certainly saw a number of great performances that were pretty unexpected, which is a great to have this early in the season! Being at home can be a bit of an extra challenge, because it doesn't always bring the focus that you get when traveling to a meet, so to do this over the weekend bodes well for the future.
 
Some standout performances would include all six of our 400 hurdles running season bests (Elizabeth Liriano, Kat Burgess, Maris Seabury, Brandon Root, Christopher Blake, and David Melick), our triple jump squad getting all season bests (Abby McDowell, Rebecca Salim, Matteson Donnelly, Jean-Andre Sassine, and Alex Daniel), our 400 relays (Faith Nelson, Alyssa LaBelle, Autumn Pittman, and Taylor Hunter for the women; Brett Morse, Evan Jensen, Coltrane Goring, and Aaron Jones for the men), and the hammer throw, where we were pretty darn awesome (showing season's bests from Nick Kaires, Stuart McLeod, Sarah Parr, Liz Spencer, Catie Lally, Brianna Schermerhorn, and Morgan Sharer). The hammer throw was probably the best event of the weekend! This isn't a complete list of all the great things that happened over the weekend, but is probably a good representation of places where all of entrants really excelled on the day.
 
We also had four brave souls that competed in the combined-event. Saturday was a long day, but Sunday – with near constant light flurries and a cold wind – was very tough. Laura Suppa led the way with conference-qualifying mark in her first attempt ever at the heptathlon!
 
With the great maturity and focus that the team showed, along with the strong performances overall, what really stood out was the level of support that the team provided for each other over the course of the weekend, along with the family and friends that were able to make it. This is an area where we had something that stands out in contrast to nearly every other track and field program I can think of – we were fortunate enough to have the college president and first lady in attendance on Saturday and Sunday! It's a pretty amazing experience for the athletes and coaches to have 'normal' conversations with Dr. Bitterbaum and Mrs. Howard-Burton – who are genuinely huge fans of all that Cortland has to offer – on the infield, asking team members about their majors and their experience here, fist-bumping after races are over, and posing for photos. It's incredibly unique and special, and we thank them for their attendance, support and enthusiasm!