STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. and UTICA, N.Y. – Evan Jensen (Red Hook) broke the school record in the 400-meter dash at the FastTrack National Invitational to highlight the Cortland men's indoor track and field team's performances as the Red Dragons competed in three weekend meets. In addition to the FastTrack National Invitational in Staten Island on Friday, Cortland had competitors Saturday at the Big Apple Invitational, also in Staten Island, and at the Utica University Blue & Orange Invitational.
 
FastTrack National Invitational Highlights:
 
Jensen finished second out of 119 runners in the 400 meters in 47.92 seconds, breaking the previous school mark of 48.07 seconds set by Gino Bisceglia in February 2011. Jensen currently ranks seventh nationally in Division III this season. Josh Jeffes (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville) finished third in 48.22 seconds and Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) was seventh in 49.25 seconds. Those three performances were All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers. In addition, Zion Cheatham (Lockport) placed 12th in 50.03 seconds.
 
Jeffes and Jensen each hit AARTFC marks in the 200-meter dash. Jeffes was third out of 105 competitors in 21.79 seconds and Jensen finished sixth in 22.06 seconds. Gavalas finished in ninth place (22.16) and Cheatham was 16th (22.28).
 
Big Apple Invitational Highlights:
 
Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) won the mile in a field of 35 runners in 4:18.84 and Hector Ramos (Evans Mills/Indian River) was 14th in 4:37.18. Ramos finished seventh (1:58.97) and Mullen was 11th (2:00.03) out of 31 in the 800 meters.
 
Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) finished second out of 58 in the 200-meter dash in 22.43 seconds. LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial) was sixth (22.72) and Marcello Mastrocco (West Islip) finished 15th (23.09). Richardson also was 15th of 54 in the 60-meter dash in 7.18 seconds. In the 3,000 meters, Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) placed fourth of 23 (8:51.05), Vincent Smaldone (Red Hook) was seventh (8:55.43) and Robert Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) finished 11th (9:03.14).
 
Utica Blue & Orange Invitational Highlights:
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) broke his own facility record in the shot put with his winning toss of 17.32 meters (56' 10") and he finished second overall, and was the top Division III finisher, in the weight throw at 17.57 meters (59' 0"). Both are AARTFC marks. Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) won the long jump with a distance of 7.04 meters (23' 1.25") and Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) was fifth at 6.79 meters (22' 3.5"), both AARTFC qualifiers.
 
Three other Red Dragons reached AARTFC standards. Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) was the runner-up in the high jump, clearing 1.92 meters (6' 3.5"). Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) finished sixth in the weight throw at 16.33 meters (53' 7") and Deontae Bennett (Riverdale, GA/Greenwich (NY)) was fourth of 133 in the 60-meter dash (7.01).
 
Collette also placed 13th in the shot put (13.40 meters/43' 11.75") and Bennett was eighth in the long jump (6.53 meters/21' 5.25"). In the triple jump, Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) finished third at 13.17 meters (43' 2.5"), while Hayden Erick (Dundee) was seventh (12.85 meters/42' 2") and Gavin Franco (East Islip) placed ninth (12.67 meters/41' 7").
 
Matthew Breslin (Islip) finished eighth of 28 in the pole vault, clearing 4.01 meters (13' 1.75"). Adam Schreiber (Williamson) finished 10th (16:06.01), Hunter Rautenstrauch (Buffalo/West Seneca West) was 11th (16:13.74) and Ronan Pollard (Lindenhurst) finished 13th (16:16.70) in the 5,000 meters. Nick Schaffer (Pompton Lakes, NJ/Pompton Lakes) finished 10th in the invitational division of the 400-meter dash (53.06).
 
Zanger was 12th of 41 in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.74 seconds. Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) was 12th in the weight throw (14.42 meters/47' 3.75"), Taiog Cypher (Irvington) tied for 14th in the high jump (1.72 meters/5' 7.75"), Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) finished 14th in the 60-meter dash (7.17) and Christian Hunter (Westbury/W.T. Clarke) placed 14th in the 60-meter hurdles (8.88).

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

Thoughts about the Fastrack National Meet from Friday, 2/7:
 
It was a long trip down and back to Staten Island, but it was worth it! Obviously the new school record by Evan is great to see, but otherwise it was a lot of learning about how to put all the pieces together when competing, especially in a bigger meet, in a bigger venue, where there is a little bit more pressure.
 
It can be tough, because this group holds themselves to very high standards, but I'm confident that the work done at this meet was worth it and will show up in the future: all four guys learned something tangible about racing, especially on a big stage, and that will pay off in the future.
 
Thoughts about the Big Apple Invitational from Saturday, 2/8:
 
The theme of competing under more stressful circumstances showed up again today at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex – but that's exactly why we wanted to go down there! Some important highlights from the sprints group are Matty Lucey having a great day with season's best in both the 400 and 200, a great drop in time over 200 meters from Autumn Pittman, and Yasmine Peralta having season's best in both the 60 and 200. From the distance side, Matthew Mullen's victory in the mile is pretty impressive not just because it was a new PR, but also because the value of winning isn't something that should be underestimated. Hector Ramos dropped a nice time in the 800 – after running a solid mile, which is always great to see. Sammie Salisbury took a huge chunk of time off of her mile PR, and our women's group in the 3k – especially the 'four horsewomen' of Alexa Wolcott, Julia Benton, Anne Barney, and Deirdre Sullivan posted great times, 3 of which were lifetime bests by a big margin! That group showed great efforts in working together and staying focused.
 
Thoughts about the Utica Blue & Orange Invite from Saturday, 2/8:
 
Continuing on the theme of having successful efforts from our distance squad, we started out with great teamwork and great toughness from Rowan Leddy and Jade Hornick in the 5k. They had to show some real patience and belief in themselves as the entire field started a bit quicker than was probably necessary for most. They ran the first 1000 meters not only in last place, but far off the field – only to steadily move up through the middle and end of the race, resulting in pretty significant PRs for both! At the close of the day Paul 'Paulie T' Tommolino had a very similar result in his heat, only he was by himself! Paul ran his final 1000 in 3:0, which is quite fast, and pretty remarkable considering how much he had to run as a solo time trials. Bri Ostheller stepped down in distance to the mile and ran a very smart and tough race to post a big PR today.
 
Five of our high hurdlers (Lillian Swyers, Gabby Collins, Eilise Marino, Hannah Nolan, and Christian Hunter) ran season bests today, which is quite exciting! While he didn't run a season best, Roland Zanger had a great double with his run in the high hurdles and a great day in the long jump. Amarian Hughes continued to impress with a great series for the long jump, and Deontae Bennett doubled with a season's best in long jump and a new PR in the 60! Our women's triple jump squad gained some nice depth as newcomers Grace Reed and Marino both posted marks that should lead to SUNYAC Championships qualifying in their first collegiate competition in the event!
 
Andrew Farnsworth posted a nice PR in the high jump, while all three of our men's pole vaulters (Matthew Breslin, Joffre Proano, and Vegas Petersen) posted season's bests during competition today. In the throws it was great to see that after lifetime bests last week both Jennifer Ndukwu and Isaiah Brunache came back with very strong performances in the weight throw and shot put respectively – that is quite a challenge after doing the best you have ever done, so it's a good credit to both of them for performing that well.
 
A small group will travel to Boston to run at the Valentine's Invitational at Boston University on Friday; the bulk of the team will be competing at Cornell on Saturday.