ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Cortland, fueled by four victories and five runner-up finishes, earned the team title at the nine-school Nazareth Conference Cup Challenge.
 
The Red Dragons finished the meet with 142.5 points. Geneseo was second with 130.5, followed by Rochester (115), Susquehanna (108) and Nazareth (41) in the top five.
 
Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian), Andrew O'Gorman (Melville/Half Hollow Hills East), Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) and Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) won the 4x200-meter relay in 1:31.34 and finished second in the 4x400-meter relay with an AARTFC time of 3:21.64 that ranks 15th nationally in Division III. Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) won the shot put (15.71 meters/51' 6.5") and was second in the weight throw (17.11 meters/56' 1.75"), both with AARTFC distances.
 
Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) won the 5,000 meters in 14:59.70, Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) won the 60-meter hurdles (8.40), Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) was second in the 60-meter dash (7.04), Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) was runner-up in the mile (4:19.97) and Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) placed second in the triple jump (14.79 meters/48' 6.25"), all with AARTFC efforts. Hughes' effort places him third in the national rankings.
 
Gavalas hit an AARTFC mark with his third-place time of 22.58 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Other Red Dragons to meet AARTFC standards included the fourth-place 4x400-meter relay unit of Zion Cheatham (Lockport), Brandon Levin (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker), Austin Garske (Rocky Point) and Jones (3:26.98), Nick Kaires in the weight throw (fourth place, 15.67 meters/51' 5"), Timofey Kayran (Mount Sinai) in the long jump (sixth place, 6.70 meters/21' 11.75"), Deontae Bennett (Greenwich) in the long jump (seventh place, 6.67 meters/21' 10.75"), and Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) in the 60-meter hurdles (first in the prelims in 8.45 seconds, finished eighth in the finals).
 
Other Cortland scorers at the meet included:
 
Nick LaRocque (Millbrook), third place, weight throw (13.75 meters/45' 1.5")
Richard Mangogna (Kings Park), fourth place, pole vault (4.31 meters/14' 1.75")
Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa), fourth place, shot put (13.66 meters/44' 9.75") and fifth place, weight throw (15.01 meters/49' 3")
Bennett, fifth place, 60-meter dash (7.13)
Knapp, fifth place, 200-meter dash (22.86)
Levin, sixth place, 200-meter dash (22.87)
Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West), sixth place, mile (4:28.42)
Hayden Erick (Dundee), sixth place, triple jump (12.65 meters/41' 6")
Tommy Burek (Latham/Shaker), sixth place, shot put (13.33 meters/43' 8.75")
O'Gorman, seventh place, 200-meter dash, 23.05
Logan Buchanan (Dundee), tied seventh place, high jump (1.82 meters/5' 11.5")
Cheatham, eighth place, 200-meter dash, 23.06
Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills), eighth place, weight throw (14.05 meters/46' 1.25")
 
In addition, five Red Dragons placed in the top six of the 5,000-meter "B" second. Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) won the race in 15:37.46, followed by Adam Beach (Red Hook) in second (15:38.76), Adam Schreiber (Williamson) in third (15:41.16), Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) in fifth (15:57.17) and Josh Koeppe (Bridgeport/Cicero-North Syracuse) in sixth (16:04.74).

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

Generally, this was a pleasing effort from the teams. While we didn't get all of the performances that we wanted out of the day, we had a pretty high percentage of people executing their plans for their events, and for the most part we had good efforts with working to be tough and competitive. A lot of the team is still feeling the effects of the winter session training, along with the first week of classes at the 6:30AM departure to get to the meet.
 
How we are feeling physically will come around, so to be successful with our focus and our toughness is a great spot to be in!
 
In terms of some specific highlights, the men's throws squad scored 42 points between the two events, with four guys scoring in each event. Those points outscored the team total from over half of the men's field! Individually while there were numerous strong performances, Nick Kaires hitting the regional standard in the weight throw with a big PR was awfully impressive!
 
Speaking of big weight throw PRs, Jen Ndukwu threw a massive PR to move into the #3 spot on the All-Time list at Cortland; teammates Hannah McMasters and Suzy Conners both had big PRs in the shot put event.
 
Tim Kayran shocked the field with a huge distance in the long jump, nearly breaking the 22 foot barrier. It was a pretty stellar result for the first-year decathlete. In the triple jump, Amarian Hughes improved significantly on his season's best, moving well up the NCAA qualifying list.
 
Our women's 60m was pretty darn strong, as both Autumn Pittman and Gianna Motto hit PRs; Kendall Sobczyk was just a slight bit off her all-time best to take the win on the day.
 
I'd like to finish with pointing out some results that didn't necessarily show up in the 'stat sheet.' In particular during the men's 5k, Brandon Mulholland, Adam Beach, and Adam Schreiber did a great job of staying connected to their pace, rolling through their field, and going 1-2-3 in the 'B' section to have big PRs. In the women's 'B' section, Emma Trefzger did the same in her first indoor 5k of her career (and only her second indoor race ever in four years). In the 'A' section, Devin Reilly produced a great race effort that led to a solid indoor PR. We also saw some really strong runs out of our relays today, especially in the 4x400 relays, where folks fought really hard and put down some season's best performances and very fast splits.
 
We're back at Ithaca College next weekend, and looking forward to continuing our progress!