CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team won 11 events the Red Dragon Open, hosted by Cortland on Sunday.
 
Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) won the hammer throw with a toss of 57.67 meters (189' 2"), which ranks ninth nationally in Division III as of Sunday evening. Evan Collette's (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) hammer throw of 55.12 meters (180' 10") ranks 24th nationally. Nick Kaires (St. James/Smithtown East) finished third in the event at 49.31 meters (161' 9"). All three efforts are AARTFC qualifiers. Kaires also met AARTFC qualifying status with his win in the discus at 46.46 meters (152' 5").
 
Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) hit AARTFC marks with two of his winning performances. He won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.60 seconds, which ranks 15th nationally, and the 400-meter hurdles in 55.76 seconds. Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) was the triple jump winner at 14.30 meters (46' 11"), which ranks 11th nationally and is an AARTFC mark.
 
The 4x100-meter relay team of Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West), Harrison Gavalas (Southampton), Zion Cheatham (Lockport) and Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) was victorious in 41.57 seconds, an AARTFC time that is currently 16th nationally. Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian), Andrew O'Gorman (Melville/Half Hollow Hills East), Cheatham and Gavalas won the 4x400-meter relay in 3:25.86.
 
Cortland's other wins came from Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) in the shot put (14.15 meters/46' 5.25"), Logan Buchanan (Dundee) in the high jump (1.90 meters/6' 2.75"), Knapp in the 200-meter dash (22.60), Gavalas in the 400-meter dash (49.69) and Adam Beach (Red Hook) in the 5,000 meters (15:30.50). Brandon Levin (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) was second in both the 100-meter dash (AARTFC-qualifying 10.98 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (22.68).
 
Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) finished second in both the 110-meter hurdles (15.87) and the high jump (1.75 meters/5' 8.75"). O'Gorman placed second in the 400-meter dash (49.91) and third in the 200-meter dash (22.78), while Hayden Erick (Dundee) was second in the triple jump (13.26 meters/43' 6") and third in the long jump (6.66 meters/21' 10.25").
 
Austin Garske (Rocky Point) was the runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles (56.82), Robert Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) finished second in the 5,000 meters (15:39.53), Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) was second of 25 in the 800 meters (1:56.34), Richard Mangogna (Kings Park) placed second in the pole vault (4.15 meters/13' 7.25"), and Ryan Joule (Staten Island/Susan E. Wagner) finished second in the javelin (48.12 meters/157' 10").
 
Turning in third-place finishes for the Red Dragons were: Collette in the shot put (13.75 meters/45' 1.5"); Diamond in the triple jump (13.00 meters/42' 8"); Knapp in the 400-meter dash (49.99); Nick LaRocque (Millbrook) in the discus (41.03 meters/134' 7"); Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) in the 5,000 meters (15:43.99); Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) in the 800 meters (1:57.48); and Tommy Martin (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) in the javelin (46.84 meters/153' 8").

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

We're very fortunate to have such an excellent facility to host meets at, and we were extra fortunate this weekend that we were able to have our timing company, officials, and (nearly all of) our invited teams able to move until Sunday as the weather was much more favorable today. Obviously the support from our department to make this happen was pretty darn important as well! While I wouldn't call the weather conditions today great track and field, they certainly weren't bad, and we had a number of folks take advantage of the opportunity!
 
There were a number of very strong performances from the throwers today! Evan Collette moved up to #4 all-time on the hammer throw list, while teammate Nick Kaires also moved up to #4 in our all-time discus throw list. Jennifer Ndukwu moved up a spot in our all-time list in the hammer throw; while Hannah McMasters overtook the #3 spot in the same event. We had a number of strong performances from both squads in the discus throw and shot put as well; I'll commend Ryan Joule in particular as we were focusing on a very specific aspect of his javelin throw which meant he was only 'allowed' to do 3 steps as compared to what we think his normal approach will be of 9 – 11 steps. To throw as far as he did with that limitation is pretty stellar; more importantly it seems as though he really achieved what we were trying to do with his technique on the day.
 
We saw a lot of great progress in the jumps for both genders, with Matteson Donnelly, Caitlin Maher, and Hayden Erick as our strongest performers across multiple events. On the track, we had a number of strong performances out of the distance squad, with some exceptional team efforts in both the women's and then men's 5k. Devin Reilly in particular had a great breakthrough in the 5k, which probably had a lot to do with the great pacing efforts from teammates Melissa Innocent and Alexa Wolcott.
 
While the wind played a lot of havoc with the 200, 400, and 400 hurdles, it didn't stop Autumn Pittman from tying the #5 all-time performance at Cortland in the 200, after opening up the day with a great anchor leg in the 4x100 and breaking the 12 second barrier in the 100! We saw some really strong performances in the 100 especially from Alexia Prince and Gianna Motto, as well as from Brandon Levin who dropped under the 11-second barrier for the first time ever. We had similar strong efforts in the high hurdles, especially from Aaron Jones, Roland Zanger, and Danielle Fisk. It's also worth noting that our men's 4x100 relay opened up their season with the #3 performance all-time at Cortland.
 
While we didn't get the times we wanted from the most of the folks today in the 200. 400, and 400 hurdles, there were nearly all good efforts by this group, so there is a lot to be pleased with!
 
This upcoming week will be exciting, as we will get to see at least a couple of days of good weather leading into both our meet at Bucknell on Saturday and Sunday as well as the 'Upstate Alternative' at home, scheduled for Saturday.