BETHLEHEM, PA. – The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team tied for fifth place out of 55 schools at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championships Wednesday and Thursday at Moravian University.
 
Cortland and The College of New Jersey each finished with 36 points. Rowan won the meet with 101.5 points, followed by Carnegie Mellon (91), Brockport (48) and Ithaca (47.5) in front of Cortland and TCNJ.
 
The Red Dragons earned six individual All-AARTFC honors, which go to the top eight finishers in each event, along with All-AARTFC honors in one relay, which go to the top three finishers.
 
Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) finished second in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.38 seconds. He was edged for the title by a hundredth of a second by Rowan's Marquise Young. Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame) was third in the 400-meter dash (48.16) and Zach Nyhart (Hamburg) finished third in the pole vault (4.70 meters/15' 5").
 
Amarian Hughes (Marlboro) and Jean-Andre Sassine (Queens Village/The Lawrenceville School) each earned all-meet honors in the triple jump. Hughes placed fourth at 13.93 meters (45' 8.5") and Sassine was seventh at 13.86 meters (45' 5.75"). Mike Verde (Hopewell Junction/Arlington) registered a sixth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:20.75.
 
Cortland's 4x100-meter relay team of Zashon Abrams (Morrisonville/Saranac), Morse, Goring and Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) finished in third place in 41.66 seconds.
 
A few other Red Dragons narrowly missed All-AARTFC recognition. David Soto (Warwick/Warwick Valley) finished ninth in the 800 meters (1:55.17) and Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) was ninth in the hammer throw (50.91 meters/167' 0"). Jones qualified for the finals in the 110-meter hurdles with the third-best prelim time (14.60), but he did not finish the race in the finals.
 
Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) placed 12th in the 400 meters (49.97) and Clay Santiago (Bethpage) was 13th in the 800 meters (1:55.73). Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) finished 15th in the 1,500 meters (3:58.11), followed by Soto in 16th place (3:58.36), and Szabo was 29th in the 800 meters (1:57.93).
 
The NCAA Division III Championships will be held May 26-28 in Geneva, Ohio. The top 20 in each men's individual event, and the top 16 relays, qualify for the national meet. As of Thursday mid-evening, Morse is ranked 12th nationally in the 110-meter hurdles with his AARTFC time. The final NCAA qualification list will be posted by 8 p.m. on Friday, May 20, on NCAA.com.

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

We're very restrictive with our participation in this meet by design – we look at it as a good last-chance qualification opportunity, as well as potentially a developmental opportunity for a few select athletes in select events. We certainly had some athletes take advantage of the opportunity over the past two days!

* Sarah Parr – in her first season throwing the hammer – threw a new personal best by nearly a meter and a half (which is nearly 5 feet), and moved up into the 3rd position in our all-time list at Cortland. It's very easy to get caught up in the 'pressure' associated with this meet, so to use it to your advantage to perform at your best – literally – is a tremendous accomplishment!

* Mike Verde closes his career with a new personal record of 9:20.75 in the steeplechase, which currently ranks him 42nd in the country in the event. That's certainly quite an achievement! Distance teammates Cameron Szabo (in the 1500) and Clay Santiago (in the 800) were able to finish their years with personal records, which is an exciting as we look ahead to next year.

* The 4x100 relay team of Zashon Abrams, Brett Morse, Coltrane Goring and Aaron Jones ran a stellar time of 41.66, which not only places them in the top 50 for the country, but also moves them up to the third-best time ever run by a foursome at Cortland!

* Coltrane came back with a massive personal record in the 400 of 48.16, which puts him 28th in the nation. It also puts him as the second-fastest to ever run the event for the Red Dragons!

* Brett had PRs every time he ran over the two days – he started the meet with a new PR in the 100HH of 14.56, and then came back after the relay to run a stellar 14.38, which put him into 12th position nationally, and 2nd All-Time at Cortland.
 
We submit entries for the NCAA Championships tomorrow, and look forward to seeing what our accepted entries are!