UTICA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team posted a convincing team victory out of 13 schools at the Utica University Holiday Classic. The Red Dragons finished with 223 points, more than double than runner-up RPI (96). Delhi (91), Utica (56.5) and Oneonta (51.5) rounded out the top five.
 
Cortland earned first-place points in 10 events to account for 100 of its points. Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) won both the mile (4:19.80) and the 800 meters (1:58.25). His mile time is an All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifier and ranks 12th nationally in Division III. Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) won the shot put (15.72 meters/51' 7") and the weight throw (17.07 meters/56' 0"), both with AARTFC efforts. He ranks 12th nationally in the shot put and 14th in the weight throw.
 
Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.06 seconds, tying the facility record (held by former Red Dragon Brent DiVittorio) and missing the Cortland school record by a hundredth of a second. He ranks fourth nationally with the performance. Cortland earned AARTFC marks in three field event wins - Richard Mangogna (Kings Park) in the pole vault (4.60 meters/15' 1"), Deontae Bennett (Greenwich) in the long jump (6.86 meters/22' 6.25") and Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) in the triple jump (14.07 meters/46' 2"). Hughes currently ranks 11th nationally in the triple jump and Mangogna ranks 15th in the pole vault.
 
Logan Buchanan (Dundee) won the high jump at 1.87 meters (6' 1.5") and Robert Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) was the top collegiate finisher in the 5,000 meters in 15:29.85.
 
Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) placed second in the 60-meter hurdles (8.26, AARTFC) and was the third collegiate finisher in the 200-meter dash (22.23, AARTFC). His 200-meter time ranks eighth nationally. Evan Jensen (Red Hook) recorded two performances that both rank in the top 15 nationally. He was third in the 400-meter dash in 49.69 seconds, which ranks 11th, and was the fifth collegiate finisher in the 200-meter dash in 22.38 seconds, which ranks 14th. Both are AARTFC times.
 
Two other Red Dragons rank in the top 20 nationally with their 400-meter times. Douglas Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) finished second in 49.52 seconds and ranks ninth and Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) placed fourth in 49.92 seconds and ranks 17th, both with AARTFC efforts. Knapp also hit an AARTFC mark as the sixth collegiate finisher in the 200-meter dash in 22.43 seconds, which ranks 17th nationally. Hughes finished fourth in the long jump at 6.66 meters (21' 10.25") and Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) was fifth at 6.65 meters (21' 10"), both AARTFC distances.
 
Other Red Dragons scoring at the meet included:
 
Sam Hotaling (Amsterdam/Broadalbin-Perth), 2nd place, Heptathlon, 3,885 points
 
Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill), 3rd place (2nd collegiate), 5,000 meters, 15:46.37
Timofey Kayran (Mount Sinai), 3rd place, Heptathlon, 3,731 points
Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West), 3rd place, Triple Jump, 12.96 meters (42' 6.25")
 
Nick LaRocque (Millbrook), 4th place (3rd collegiate), Shot Put, 13.88 meters (45' 6.5")
Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa), 4th place (3rd collegiate), Weight Throw, 14.92 meters (48' 11.5")
Eddie Manente (Beacon), 4th place, 60-meter dash, 7.12
 
Nick Kaires (St. James/Smithtown East), 5th place (4th collegiate), Weight Throw, 14.17 meters (46' 6")
 
Adam Schreiber (Williamson), 6th place (5th collegiate), 5,000 meters, 15:54.87
 
Zion Cheatham (Lockport), 6th place, 400-meter dash, 51.06
Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West), 6th place, Mile, 4:29.07
 
Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd), 7th place (6th collegiate), 5,000 meters, 15:58.28
Evan Rawlings (Mansfield, MA), 7th place, 60-meter hurdles, 8.96
Hayden Erick (Dundee), 7th place, Triple Jump, 12.54 meters (41' 1.75")
 
Gavalas, 8th place (7th collegiate), 200-meter dash, 22.68
Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills), 9th place (7th collegiate), Shot Put, 12.79 meters (41' 11.5")
Schaffert, 9th place (8th collegiate), 200-meter dash, 22.69
Paul Tommolino (Stony Brook/Ward Melville), 9th place (8th collegiate), 5,000 meters, 16:11.71
Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post), 9th place (8th collegiate), Weight Throw, 13.72 meters (45' 0.25")

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

So many great things that happened over this weekend!
 
Of course the team finishes are definitely worth being proud of. We don't determine our entries with the goal of winning this meet, but a wise coach once told me to 'never underestimate the value of winning.' So besides the number of individual victories that we had today, the team title for the men AND the runner-up finish by the women's squad is certainly a result that we were happy to see.
 
For the women's team, it's worth noting that Kendall Sobczyk's 60 and Danielle Fisk's pentathlon were both the second-best all-time performances at Cortland, which is really exciting to see this early in the season – especially for Danielle's first collegiate combined-event. Having our top three (Hannah McMasters, Jennifer Nduwkwu, and Suzy Conners) competing in the finals of the weight throw was great, especially as all three threw PRs. Our high jump squad put together a great meet as not only Danielle jumped well during the pentathlon, but also Regan Kaiser and Reilly Quinn hitting big marks was great! Avery Hebert led a strong squad in the long sprints with lifetime bests in the 200 and 400; since the outdoor track is typically faster, those both represent big breakthroughs for her! Finally, our women's 5k team rolled us to a great start on the day with a 1-2-3 finish amongst collegians by Alexa Wolcott, Melissa Innocent, and Adrienne Martin all running well under the 19-minute mark, and eclipsing our best time from last year.
 
For the men's team,  I'd like to commend Sam Hotaling and Tim Kayran for putting in a long two days of work in the heptathlon – that's a lot to get through in your second collegiate meet, and both performed quite well. Cam Szabo deserves special mention for how dominant both of his wins were today – in the mile he was in front 400 meters into the race, and was in control 200 meters into the 800. For the triple jump, this meet was the first time we competed this year, and we limited our approach to only 5 steps, so the distances put up by Amarian Hughes, Mitch Diamond, and Hayden Erick were quite impressive! We're also quite happy with where things went in long jump, especially with Deontae Bennett, Amarian, and Matt Schaffert all over 6.65 (which is 21' 10"). It's pretty fun that we were able to win all four jumping events today between Deontae (LJ), Amarian (TJ), Logan Buchanan (HJ), and Rich Mangogna (PV). It would be remiss to not mention that Brett Morse has moved up to a tie for second on our All-Time list in the 60 High Hurdles with his PR today. I also don't want to fail to mention that our highest 'scoring' group on the day – amassing 26 points – is our 5k group led by the top collegian in the race Robby Davidson, Brandon Mulholland, Adam Schreiber, Matt Mullen, and Paul Tommolino, all of whom ran big indoor or lifetime bests in the event.
 
We have a block of time to first focus on finals, and then on some fundamentals and foundational training before returning to practices in January. The coaching staff is pretty thrilled with how the fall has gone, and are looking forward to taking the next step forward!