CHESTER, PA. and CLINTON, N.Y. – The Cortland men's track and field team opened its season with competitors at the Widener University Danny Curran Invitational on Friday and Saturday and the Hamilton College Invitational on Saturday.
 
Widener Highlights:
 
Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) finished first out of 30 athletes in the hammer throw with an AARTFC-qualifying distance of 54.19 meters (177' 9"). He ranks 21st nationally in Division III in the event as of Saturday evening. Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) ranks 16th nationally in the 400-meter hurdles with his fifth-place time of 56.04 seconds. He also finished fifth in the 110-meter hurdles with an AARTFC time of 14.87 seconds.
 
Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) reached AARTFC standards with his fifth-place effort, out of 90 runners, in the 200-meter dash (21.99) and his seventh-place time, out of 96 runners, in the 100-meter dash (10.99). Two Red Dragons met AARTFC standards in the javelin - Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) in eighth place (51.71 meters/169' 8") and Tommy Martin (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) in ninth place (50.84 meters/166' 9").
 
Three Cortland runners hit AARTFC marks in the 10,000-meter run. RJ Davis (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) finished in 18th place in 32:16.61, followed by Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) in 22nd (32:27.58) and Robert Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) in 23rd (32:30.26).
 
Knapp placed fourth of 55 in the 400-meter dash (49.76), with Zion Cheatham (Lockport) in sixth (49.86), Brandon Levin (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) in seventh (50.11) and Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) in 10th (50.23). Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) finished fourth (9:45.23) and Josh Koeppe (Bridgeport/Cicero-North Syracuse) was sixth (10:06.57) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
 
Austin Garske (Rocky Point) placed sixth in the 400-meter hurdles (56.08), with Brandon Root (Merrick/John F. Kennedy) finishing ninth (58.13). Logan Buchanan (Dundee) placed seventh of 28 in the high jump (1.89 meters/6' 2.25") and Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) was eighth in the 110-meter hurdles (16.35). Gavalas and Knapp finished eighth (22.27) and ninth (22.32), respectively, in the 200-meter dash. Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West) was ninth of 72 in the 800 meters (1:58.70) and 10th of 68 in the 1,500 meters (1:58.70), and Ryan Joule (Staten Island/Susan E. Wagner) was 10th in the javelin (49.78 meters/163' 4").

Hamilton Highlights:
 
Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) won the hammer throw at Hamilton with an AARTFC-qualifying toss of 50.87 meters (166' 10"). Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post) placed seventh at 39.95 meters (131' 1").
 
Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) was second of 40 in the long jump at 6.48 meters (21' 2.25"). Three Red Dragons finished in the top eighth in the discus throw - Hogue in third out of 35 competitors at 39.01 meters (128' 0"), Nick LaRocque (Millbrook) in seventh place (37.15 meters/121' 10") and Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) in eighth place (37.11 meters/121' 9").
 
Richard Mangogna (Kings Park) finished third in the pole vault, clearing 4.30 meters (14' 1.25"). Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) was fourth of 38 in the 800 meters (2:00.16), John Anderson (Ithaca) finished fourth of 17 in the 110-meter hurdles (16.29), LaRocque was fourth of 31 in the shot put (13.79 meters/45' 3"), and Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) placed 10th of 67 in the 100-meter dash (11.21).

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

We're thankful to have the support to be able to send the team off to two different meets this weekend, as well as the cooperation of Mother Nature to make both pretty reasonable in both locations!

We had a number of highlights from both events, probably led by our hammer throwers and our 10k runners. Mitchell Makowski returned to competition for his final outdoor season with a near-PR, while firstyear Evan Collette enters our top-five list with a career opening throw over 50 meters! Fellow firstyear Cabe Hogue had a strong showing in the hammer to go along with our current team-leading throw in the discus. Jennifer Ndukwu led teammates Hannah McMasters (who had a nice PR) and Suzy Conners to a strong showing in the women's event as well.

In the 10k, we went 5 for 5 with personal records, which is obviously a great way to start the season. Extra credit should be given to Devin Reilly who essentially ran the race as a time trial, which obviously adds an additional challenge!

Our javelin throw went quite well at Widener; Doug Knapp and Tommy Martin opened the season with personal bests, and Ryan Joule just missed finals with the 3rd-best performance over his career. Outdoor track is always a bit strange, especially as you may be doing doing events (like the javelin) that you haven't been able to compete in since last year, and may have had limited opportunities to practice, so we're excited to have those early strong performances!

Speaking of events that are limited to the outdoor season and a challenge to practice for in the winter, the 400 hurdles group did quite well, as you saw strong openers from both the men (Aaron Jones, Austin Garske, and Brandon Root) and women (Yasmine Peralta and Matty Lucey) at Widener.

Our steeple people opened the season quite well for the most part with new PRs by Alexa Wolcott, Melissa Innocent, Anika Parnell, Aliesha Howard, and Matthew Mullen. Our remaining folks were all pretty close to their bests, so we feel pretty good about how that event group is progressing overall.

Jack Bisbee and Sydney Smith both had strong doubles in the mid-distance events, while Cameron Szabo and Hector Ramos both performed quite well in their 800s. AnJalyna Talmadge certainly had a strong day with her performances in the high hurdles and long jump; Matthew Schaffert had a strong double in the 100 and 200 (breaking both the 11-second and the 22-second barrier on the same day, which is quite fun).

To close out our highlights, I'll make mention of Alexia Prince who had a strong performance in the 100, an excellent 200, and ran a good second leg in the 4x100 relay with Kendall Sobczyk, Avery Hebert, and Autumn Pittman to post a stellar opening time. It's exciting to be running that fast this early.

We're looking forward to opening the home season this Saturday and Sunday with the Red Dragon Open.