CHESTER, PA. and CLINTON, N.Y. – The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team won a combined five events as the Red Dragons sent competitors to the Widener University Danny Curran Invitational on Friday and Saturday and the Hamilton College Invitational on Saturday.
 
Widener Highlights:
 
Four of Cortland's five wins over the weekend came at Widener, led by Zach Nyhart (Hamburg) won the pole vault with a height of 4.70 meters (15' 5"). Nyhart won "the rock" award that is given to the pole vault champs at the meet. The tournament's namesake, Danny Curran, was an accomplished pole vaulter at Widener who passed away in 2002. The Curran family funds the meet's awards, with "the rock" a special additional award for the pole vault.
 
Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.69 seconds, Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) was the 3,000-meter steeplechase winner in 9:32.51, and the 4x400-meter relay team of Oba Awolowo (Hauppauge), Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame), Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) and Rich Samuels (Wallkill) was victorious in 3:18.54. All of Cortland's winning efforts are All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers.
 
Other AARTFC qualifying efforts for the Red Dragons included: Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) in the 110-meter hurdles (seventh place, 15.50); Goring in the 200-meter dash (third place of 107, 22.01); Evan Jensen (Red Hook) in the 200-meter dash (11th place, 22.40); and Austin Garske (Rocky Point) in the 400-meter hurdles (fifth place, 55.36). In addition, two other Red Dragon 4x400-meter relay teams hit AARTFC marks – Jones, Brandon Root (Bellmore/John F. Kennedy), Aidan Aguirre (Hicksville) and Garske finished fourth (3:20.69) and Ryan Serp (Commack/Fayetteville-Manlius), Jensen, Douglas Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) and Muiz Bayewu (Lagos, Nigeria/Albany (NY)) placed fifth (3:21.86).
 
Other top finishes for Cortland at the meet included:
 
Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy), 2nd, 1,500 meters, 4:02.58
Harry Tomasi (Port Jervis), 4th, 1,500 meters, 4:05.49
Matthew Mullen (Mastic/William Floyd), 4th, 3,000-meter steeplechase, 9:58.39
Goring, 6th, 100-meter dash, 11.17
Roland Zanger (Port Jervis), 7th, High Jump, 1.82 meters (5' 11.5")
Matthew Schaffert (Lockport), 9th, 100-meter dash, 11.26
Clayton Santiago (Bethpage), 9th, 1,500 meters, 4:06.58
Hagie Sesay (Buffalo/Hutch Tech), 9th, Long Jump, 6.49 meters (21' 3.5")
Jones, 10th, 400-meter hurdles, 57.46
Gavalas, 10th, 100-meter dash, 11.27
 
Ryan Joule (Staten Island/Susan E. Wagner) and Tommy Martin (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) each got one throw in during the javelin before the event was canceled due to the weather. Joule was in second place (46.74 meters/153' 4") and Martin was 10th (42.96 meters/140' 11") when the event was halted. As a result, they both traveled on Sunday to compete at the Geneseo Early Season Invite. Joule finished second out of 40 competitors at 49.32 meters (161' 10") and Martin was 14th at 38.47 meters (126' 2").
 
Hamilton Highlights:
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) won the discus at the Hamilton meet with a toss of 42.92 meters (140' 10"). Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) was sixth at 35.86 meters (117' 8"). Makowski posted the Red Dragons' lone AARTFC qualifier at the meet with his runner-up distance of 51.46 meters (168' 10") in the hammer throw. Brunache placed sixth at 45.37 meters (148' 10").
 
Erek Biddle (Fairport) finished third in the javelin at 48.59 meters (159' 5"), Nate Wilsoncroft (Horseheads) was fourth in the 800 meters (2:01.21) and Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) placed fourth in the long jump (6.10 meters/20' 0.25"). The 4x400-meter relay team of Andrew O'Gorman (Melville/Half Hollow Hills East), Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point), Nik Knobloch (New Paltz) and Justin Schrom (Richmondville/Cobleskill-Richmondville) finished third in 3:28.12.
 
Robert Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) finished fifth in the 5,000 meters (16:35.31) and Alex Daniel (Warsaw) was sixth in the triple jump (12.40 meters/40' 8.25"). Eddie Manente (Beacon) placed 10th in the 200-meter dash (23.01) and Jakob Getchell (Windsor) was 10th in the 1,500 meters (4:16.78).

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

This was a pretty successful opening weekend for us – definitely one of the best I've had in my time here as a coach!
 
First, the fact that we are able to travel folks to two different meets to provide opportunities to compete is pretty great; the fact that we had cooperative weather in both locations is pretty special as well.
 
Both meets had some pretty outstanding opening results. From the Hamilton meet, firstyear Eddie Manente opened the season strong with good performances in the open 100 and 200, with both representing a big step forward from the indoor season. Fellow firstyear Gianna Motto had similar results in her 100 and 200, showing a big improvement as compared to the indoor season. Sophomore Savannah Adami opened her outdoor campaign with a PR in the 1500, which is certainly a great way to start the season!
 
For the field, we had a lot of good success especially in the throws at Hamilton, but the two highlights would have to be Erek Biddle – not only competing for the first time as a collegian, but for the first time in the event -  having a very long toss in the javelin, and fellow firstyear Jennifer Ndukwu translating her work in the weight throw indoors in a very big opening throw of the hammer. Jennifer's best throw indoors predicts about a 35 meter throw, so to almost crack the 40-meter barrier was a great way to start things off!
 
Widener was a great opportunity for most to compete, and a lot of folks took advantage of it. While we weren't perfect in our execution, that's OK as we seem to be recognizing where we made mistakes and how to improve for the future.
 
On Friday night, our women's 10k group (Khalifah Tracey, Devin Reilly, Adrienne Martin, Vanessa Burkard, and Deirdre Sullivan) was pretty exceptional in their effort, and in their teamwork. They did a fantastic job of working together to put down some excellent times! RJ Davis and Adam Schreiber (who took the win in his heat) also performed quite well in the longest race of the weekend.
 
It's hard to limit my comments to who did well at Widener on Saturday, since nearly everybody did quite well! For the Lady Red Dragons, highlights would have to be the ladies in the 400 (Avery Hebert, Maris Seabury, and Faith Nelson), the ladies in the 400 hurdles (Elizabeth Liriano, Sam Becker, Yasmine Peralta, and Helena Trackey), Kristin Ieva and Sydney Smith doubling in the 1500 and the 800 quite well, and the women's 4x100 running to a quite fast opener (Kendall Sobczyk, Alyssa LaBelle, Julia Ross, and Autumn Pittman).
 
For the men, Zach Nyhart winning 'the rock' is a special honor, especially given that Dan Curran was officiating the event, and his son Danny was a pole vaulter at Widener. While the event winners obviously did great work, some folks that had strong performances that didn't show up with a win would include Hagie Sesay (especially in the long jump), Matthew Schaffert (especially in the 100), Muiz Bayewu breaking 2 minutes in the 800 in his debut for the race, the mid-distance men in the 1500 and 800 double (Cameron Szabo, Harry Tomasi, and Clayton Santiago), Matthew Mullen breaking the 10-minute barrier in the steeplechase, and the men's 4x4 group, which really put together a pretty exceptional day. I intentionally mixed up our relays to try and get a better understanding of where we are, but was really impressed at how fast the three relays ran. Of particular note out of that group are Aaron Jones, who not only had a 110HH race, but also his first 400 hurdle race in almost 7 years, and a stellar lead-off leg for one of the relays closing in on the 49-second barrier; Austin Garske, who opened the season with a great 400 hurdle race and nearly broke the 49-second barrier in his anchor leg for a relay, and firstyear Aidan Aguirre, who not only ran a great 3rd leg on his relay but also won his heat in a SUNAYC-qualifying time in his first-ever attempt at the 400 hurdles!
 
Finally – and unfortunately – our javelin throwers on the men's side had to deal with their event being cancelled after their first throws due to lightning and darkness. It was the right decision, but incredibly frustrating for both Ryan Joule and Tommy Martin to have made the trip, to barely get to compete. It's certainly a frustrating experience! Thankfully, we were able to get them into a chance to compete Sunday, and Tyler Hochadel (our throws coach) was able to take them. I greatly appreciate how they handled the setback and am happy that they got to compete again and that Ryan was able to improve on his season's best.