BROCKPORT, N.Y. - Cortland won five events and posted 11 top-three all-league finishes and the Red Dragons placed second out of nine schools at the 2024 SUNYAC Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Brockport.
 
Geneseo won the team title with 184.83 points, followed by Cortland with 156 and Brockport with 141.5. Rounding out the field were Buffalo State (66), Oneonta (57.33), Plattsburgh (28.33), Fredonia (20), Oswego (7) and Potsdam (2).
 
Cortland's 4x400-meter relay team of Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian), Andrew O'Gorman (Melville/Half Hollow Hills East), Zion Cheatham (Lockport) and Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) finished first with a time of 3:19.05 that currently ranks 17th nationally in Division III. Four Red Dragons posted individual league crowns - Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) in the 60-meter hurdles (8.18), Logan Buchanan (Dundee) in the high jump (1.90 meters/6' 2.75"), Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) in the triple jump (14.53 meters/47' 8") and Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) in the weight throw (17.60 meters/57' 9").
 
Brunache also placed second in the shot put (15.72 meters/51' 7") and Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) was second in the weight throw (16.52 meters/54' 2.5"). Gavalas finished third in the 400-meter dash (49.46), Camden Buchanan (Dundee) was third in the triple jump (13.68 meters/44' 10.75"), Nick LaRocque (Millbrook) finished third in the shot put (14.76 meters/48' 5.25"), and the distance medley relay team of Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West), Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point), Hector Ramos (Evans Mills/Indian River) and Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) placed third in 10:20.56.
 
Cortland earned a total of 17 All-SUNYAC honors (nine individuals and eight relay runners). All-league honors go to the top three places in each event. Winners are first team, runners-up are second team, and third-place finishers are third team.
 
Other Red Dragon scorers with top-eight finishes included:
 
Cheatham, 4th place, 400-meter dash (49.94)
Matthew Schaffert (Lockport), 4th place, Long Jump (6.75 meters/22' 1.75"), 6th place, 60-meter dash (7.09, 7.04 prelims), 7th place, 200-meter dash (22.63, 22.56 prelims)
Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West), 4th place, Triple Jump (13.50 meters/44' 3.5")
Nick Kaires (St. James/Smithtown East), 4th place, Weight Throw (15.60 meters/51' 2.25")
Gavalas, 5th place, 200-meter dash (22.33)
Bisbee, 5th place, 800 meters (1:56.85)
Collette, 5th place, Shot Put (14.48 meters/47' 6.25")
John Anderson (Ithaca), 6th place, Heptathlon (3,943 points)
Jones, 6th place, 200-meter dash (22.45)
Knapp, 6th place, 400-meter dash (50.03, 49.72 prelims)
Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy), 6th place, 3,000 meters (8:39.20)
Roland Zanger (Port Jervis), 6th place, High Jump (1.80 meters/5' 10.75"), 7th place, 60-meter hurdles (8.97, 8.95 prelims)
Richard Mangogna (Kings Park), 6th place, Pole Vault (4.10 meters/13' 5.25")
Tommy Burek (Latham/Shaker), 6th place, Weight Throw (15.10 meters/49' 6.5")
Hughes, 7th place, Long Jump (6.64 meters/21' 9.5")
Brandon Levin (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker), 8th place, 200-meter dash (22.71, 22.54 prelims)
Mullen, 8th place, Mile (4:21.17)
Adam Beach (Red Hook), 8th place, 3,000 meters (8:41.54)
Travis Iwuagwu (Suffern), 8th place, 60-meter hurdles (9.04, 8.88 prelims)
 
Cortland will compete at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday, March 1-2, at Nazareth. Cortland athletes who met AARTFC qualifying levels at the SUNYAC Championships were:
 
4x400-meter relay (Knapp, O'Gorman, Cheatham, Gavalas)
DMR (Bisbee, Garafola, Ramos, Mullen)
Anderson, Heptathlon
Beach, 3,000 meters
Bisbee, 800 meters
Brignall, 3,000 meters
Brunache, Weight Throw, Shot Put
Collette, Weight Throw, Shot Put
Gavalas, 200-meter dash
Hughes, Triple Jump
Jones, 60-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash
Knapp, 400-meter dash
Levin, 200-meter dash
Mullen, Mile
Schaffert, 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash
(NOTE: Heptathlon at the AARTFC Championships is limited to top 12 qualifiers. As of Saturday night, Anderson is ranked 25th.)
 
Final Team Scores:
1) Geneseo - 184.83
2) Cortland - 156
3) Brockport - 141.5
4) Buffalo State - 66
5) Oneonta - 57.33
6) Plattsburgh - 28.33
7) Fredonia - 20
8) Oswego - 7
9) Potsdam - 2

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

The biggest thing I'd like to share is how proud the coaching staff and I are with the way in which the team chose to compete over the weekend. We had a few setbacks of course, but we really excelled in our approach to competing. When we are doing the right things along the way, the results we want will happen naturally.
 
Obviously there are some pretty exceptional highlights in terms of improving on national seeds/ranking, event champions, All-Conference performers, folks placing in the top eight to score points, and AARTFC qualifiers. I'd like to point out a few things that might not show up in 'stat sheet' but that I think are pretty telling about some real positive progress from our program.
 
For the women's program, seeing the gap between 2nd and our team versus the last two years is a real measure of progress. We believe in what we've been doing and getting that sort of result is great tangible evidence for us! Obviously Autumn's weekend was pretty exceptional, but I don't want to lose sight of the fact that Kendall lowered her personal best in the 60 this weekend; in fact every single one of our women in the sprints (Izzie Bosko, Abby Hardy, Avery Hebert, Matty Lucey, Gianna Motto, Faith Nelson, Yasmine Peralta, Alexia Prince, and Maris Seabury ran a PR in at least one of their events this weekend! We also saw PRs from Reilly Quinn (TJ), Sydney Smith and Anika Parnell (both in the mile), Alexa Wolcott (3000), Devin Reilly (5000), Hannah McMasters (weight throw), and AnJalyna Talmadge (both the pentathlon and the 60 high hurdles).
 
On the men's side, the depth in our throws group showed again, as they scored a total of 44 points, and earned 2/3 of the all-conference honors. While there was a bit more strength in the weight throw (pun definitely intended), the PRs were rolling in the shot put, as Nick LaRocque, Evan Collette, and Cabe Hogue all threw further than ever before! I'd also like to point out the strength of the triple jump squad today, as that group scored 21 points off of first (Amarian Hughes), third (Camden Buchanan), and fourth (Mitch Diamond). Logan Buchanan's win in the high jump came after a hard-fought jump-off that required 7 attempts – giving him a total of 15 jumps on the day, which is pretty crazy! Jack Bisbee had an exceptional weekend both by handing off the baton in the lead in the 1200 leg of the DMR, and a big PR in the 800. It was pretty gool that both Lenny Diaz and Hector Ramos came through with PRs in the 800 as well. Matthew Mullen also pulled double duty first with a very strong anchor in the DMR followed up the next day by a big PR to score in the mile; Adam Beach dropped a huge PR in a very well-run race to earn points in the 3k. But the biggest breakthrough on the men's team was probably John Anderson who set PRs in 6 of the 7 events in the heptathlon – and nearly tied his PR in the pole vault – to have a big overall PR in the heptathlon while earning 6th in the event.
 
We're in a transitional time of year, as some of the squad is pretty well set for NCAA qualification, a number of folks will be competing this upcoming weekend at the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Championships hosted by Nazareth, and the bulk of the team is transitioned into outdoor track and field training.