FREDONIA, N.Y. – Cortland finished in 11th place out of 22 schools at the NCAA Division III Niagara Region (Region 3) Men's Cross Country Championships, hosted by Fredonia State.
 
Cortland with 278 points, 20 ahead of 12th-place Utica and 23 behind 10th-place Houghton. NYU won the team title with 29 points, just ahead of Geneseo's 30 points. NYU earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championships by winning the regional. Other regional team finishers are eligible for at-large selections, and the top seven runners not on teams chosen for nationals qualify for the championship individually.
 
Adam Schreiber (Williamson) was Cortland's top runner in 43rd place out of 170 runners in 26 minutes, 46.5 seconds over 8,000 meters. Geneseo's Charlie Wilson won the regional title in 24:51.8. The top 35 finishers earned all-region honors.
 
Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) finished 50th in 26:57.6 and Hunter Rautenstrauch (Buffalo/West Seneca West) was 54th in 27:03.8. Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) placed 66th (27:23.4), Vincent Smaldone (Red Hook) was 74th (27:29.3) and Ronan Pollard (Lindenhurst) finished 84th (27:47.1).

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

Obviously Melissa's performance is quite exciting, and we wait for the official announcement tomorrow regarding the NCAA field with a lot of confidence.
 
This meet was a bit odd for us in that two themes really seemed to develop. The first is our youth. On the women's side, two sophomores and two firstyears were in the race today! I'll highlight the efforts of Julia Benton and Phoebe Peer as our 5th and 6th runners today – both had what might have been their best races of the season, choosing to respond to the pressure of the biggest meet of the year in way that was positive and purposeful! That's an impressive thing to achieve, and bodes well for the future!
 
On the men's side, we ran three firstyears, all of whom also probably produced their best efforts of the season. We've focused a lot on how Hunter Rautenstrauch and Vincent Smaldone can help each other out during the race, and both really seemed to have an improved effort on that today, and it had a great payoff for them individually and as a team. Fellow firstyear Ronan Pollard – like Hunter and Vincent – ran PRs for the 8k distance on a course that isn't the easiest one out there; he competed well in a manner that helps gain valuable experience for the future.
 
This meet also marks the last cross country race in the college career of a number of folks; some of their teammates were finished earlier in the season. We'd like to acknowledge the dedication and effort of Mike Alvarez, Robby Davidson, Eric DeHart, Matthew Mullen, Daniel Patrick, and Adam Schreiber on the men's side, and Aliesha Howard, Kristin Ieva, Devin Reilly, Deirdre Sullivan, and Emma Trefzger for the women's team. While most of this group will be returning for the track and field season, I'll make extra note that Daniel and Devin are both graduating early in December of 2024! Running is challenging, and distance running is a true year-round sport that requires a lot of sacrifice not typically asked of college students, so for these folks to achieve what they have with us is something pretty special! We thank them, and we will miss them!