SHIPPENSBURG, PA. – The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team tuned up for next weekend's SUNYAC Championships with numerous strong performances at Saturday's Shippensburg University Paul Kaiser Invitational.
 
The Red Dragons won both relays at the meet. Zashon Abrams (Morrisonville/Saranac), Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs), Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame) and Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) won the 4x100-meter relay in 41.88 seconds, which currently ranks 44th nationally in Division III and sixth in the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC). The foursome of Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian), Rich Samuels (Wallkill), Brandon Root (Bellmore/John F. Kennedy) and Justin Schrom (Richmondville/Cobleskill-Richmondville) won the 4x400-meter relay in 3:19.88, also an AARTFC qualifying time.
 
Morse and Jones took the top two spots in the 110-meter hurdles. Morse won the event in 14.66 seconds and ranks 27th nationally and second in the AARTFC. Jones was second in the 14.82 seconds, which also met AARTFC standards. Cortland also captured the top two spots in the pole vault with AARTFC marks. Zach Nyhart (Hamburg) was first at 4.65 meters (15' 3") and Dane Sorensen (Warwick/Warwick Valley) was second at 4.50 meters (14' 9").
 
Goring placed second out of 41 runners in the 400-meter dash in 48.69 seconds, which ranks fourth in the AARTFC and 30th nationally. Knapp finished eighth in 50.24 seconds and Schrom was ninth in 50.48 seconds. Goring also finished fourth out of 60 competitors in the 200-meter dash with an AARTFC mark of 22.05 seconds.
 
David Soto (Warwick/Warwick Valley) registered a second-place finish out of 50 runners in the 1,500 meters in 3:56.48. Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) was seventh in 3:59.84. Both times are AARTFC qualifiers. Root was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with an AARTFC time of 56.54 seconds.
 
Three Cortland field-event performances met AARTFC standards. Jean-Andre Sassine (Queens Village/The Lawrenceville School) was fourth of 30 in the triple jump at 13.64 meters (44' 9"), with Amarian Hughes (Marlboro) right behind him in fifth place at 13.61 meters (44' 8"). Ryan Joule (Staten Island/Susan B. Wagner) placed fifth of 39 in the javelin at 51.22 meters (168' 0").
 
Other Red Dragon highlights included Samuels in fifth place of 65 in the 800 meters (1:57.01), Hagie Sesay (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) 10th of 42 in the long jump (6.37 meters/20' 10.75"), Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) tied for 10th of 24 in the high jump (1.80 meters/5' 10.75"), and Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) 12th of 41 in the shot put (12.64 meters/41' 5.75").

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

It was a treat to have great weather to close out our regular season (and the month of April) in Shippensburg Pennsylvania! We saw a lot of sun and warm temperatures, and I have to commend our team on making good decisions throughout the day to be ready to compete. It's tempting to spend the whole day soaking up the sun, but we were responsible in an effort to try and get peak performances.
 
We certainly had some strong performances to celebrate! Matteson Donnelly had an outdoor PR in the triple jump, Kimmy Arena had a season's best in the pole vault, Autumn Pittman had a big PR in the 200, Katherine McDowell had  PR in the 400, Elizabeth Liriano had a huge PR in the 400 hurdles, Catie Lally had a PR in shot put, Liz Spencer had a PR in discus throw, Sarah Parr had a PR in the hammer throw, and Morgan Sharer had a strong PR in the javelin throw. Where we didn't PR, I feel pretty confident that we made progress in our events, which sets us up quite nicely for next weekend at Brockport for the SUNYAC Championships.
 
The men had a similar trend with numerous personal bests: both Coltrane Goring and Justin Schrom hit new PRs in the 400, David Soto in the 1500,  Brett Morse in the high hurdles, Jean-Andre Sassine in the triple jump, and Ryan Joule in the javelin throw, while Hagie Sesay hit a season's best in the long jump and  Dane Sorensen vaulted his season's best as well. Both of our relays ran exceptionally well – the men's 4x400 of Doug Knapp, Rich Samuels, Brandon Root and Justin Schrom dipped under 3:20, which is always a nice barrier to break (and the second quartet to do that this spring, showcasing some real depth); the men's 4x100 (Zashon Abrams, Brett Morse, Coltrane Goring and Aaron Jones) went under the 42-second barrier for the first time this season, in only the first time this combination of athletes competed in a race. That puts them as the 4th-fastest relay to have ever run at Cortland, which is quite an accomplishment.
 
SUNYACs is always an exciting meet that we are very much looking forward to! It's a great experience to be in a scored team competition (and frankly, it's pretty unusual in track and field), and a great way to enter our championships season.