BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Cortland men's indoor track and field team won its ninth State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title and first since 2016 with a dominating performance at the conference championship meet at Brockport.
 
The Red Dragons finished first in the 12-team field with 233 points, followed by Oneonta with 103, Fredonia with 82, Penn State Behrend with 59 and Buffalo State with 47 in the top five. The championship included eight SUNYAC core members along with four new associate members - Penn St. Behrend, Delhi, Alfred State and Cobleskill.
 
Cortland athletes set two school records during the meet. Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) broke his own school record in the triple jump with his winning distance of 15.34 meters (50' 4"), breaking the mark of 15.21 meters that he set in January. He currently ranks second nationally in Division III in the event. Hughes has won the event at the SUNYAC meet three of the last four years.
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) broke his own school mark in the weight throw with a toss of 19.11 meters (62' 8.5"), eclipsing his previous record of 18.51 meters from 2024. He repeated as league champion and is ranked sixth nationally. Brunache also won the shot put at 17.24 meters (56' 6.75").
 
Josh Jeffes (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville) claimed two league titles. He won the 400-meter dash in 48.50 seconds, with a prelim time of 47.98 seconds that set meet and facility records and is ranked fourth nationally. He won the 200-meter dash in 21.93 seconds, and his prelim time of 21.83 seconds ranks 12th nationally. John Anderson (Ithaca) won the heptathlon with 4,184 points.
 
Evan Jensen (Red Hook) finished second in the 200-meter dash (21.98) and third in the 400-meter dash (49.08, 48.45 prelims). Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) was second in the 5,000 meters (15:38.36) and third in the 3,000 meters (8:56.68). Other runner-up finishers included: Zion Cheatham (Lockport) in the 400-meter dash (49.06); Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) in the mile (4:18.32), Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) in the triple jump (14.13 meters/46' 4.25"); Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) in the weight throw (16.87 meters/55' 4.25"); and the distance medley relay of Hector Ramos (Evans Mills/Indian River), Declan Kennedy (Lakewood/Southwestern), Lenny Diaz (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) and Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) (10:41.29).
 
Four Red Dragons registered third-place finishes - Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) in the 60-meter dash (6.96, 6.93 prelims), Robert Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) in the 5,000 meters (15:39.78), Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) in the long jump (6.87 meters/22' 6.5") and Matthew Breslin (Islip) in the pole vault (tied 3rd, 4.10 meters/13' 5.25").
 
Cortland earned a total of 22 All-SUNYAC honors (18 individuals and four 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.
 
Final Team Scores:
1) Cortland 233, 2) Oneonta 103, 3) Fredonia 82, 4) Penn St. Behrend 59, 5) Buffalo State 47, 6) Plattsburgh 41, 7) Delhi 38, 8) Oswego 28, 9) Alfred St. 24, 10) Morrisville 5, T11) Potsdam 0, T11) Cobleskill 0


(List of remaining scoring performances is below the Coach's Corner)

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

There are so many 'obvious' highlights on the day, so I'd like my focus to be on the unsung heroes that we had over the weekend. I'm sure that the recap will address the new conference champions, new school records, national rankings, all-conference performers, and scoring performances.
 
To start, we scored in every event. All 34. That's a pretty tremendous accomplishment, and shows off a lot of depth across the program!
 
On the women's side, Lillian Swyers scoring 24 total points with huge personal records in all three of her events (triple jump, long jump, and the 60 high hurdles) is a pretty amazing performance through the weekend. Alexia Prince dropped personal records in both of her events, which is quite exciting! Jewel Jones ran a great lead-off 1200 in the distance medley relay, and came back to run a stellar mile on Saturday! Melissa Innocent ran two tough efforts in the mile and the 3k, setting a huge PR in the mile. Our depth in the longer track races – led by the 1-2 punch of Deirdre Sullivan and Julia Benton – was on display as four of the six ladies in the 5k set new personal records. Alexa Wolcott led much of the race – following our pre-race plan – in a manner that ended up setting up her teammates fantastically! The women's 4x400 relay of Faith Nelson, Izzie Bosko, Yasmine Peralta, and Matty Lucey was especially impressive not only in the overall time, but also their individual splits and how they raced.
 
The jumpers certainly got things done over the weekend! Ryan Stark enters the All-Time top 5 list at Cortland with her vault. Regan Kaiser jumped to a share of the win in the high jump after being out for more than a week with a hip injury. Hannah Nolan had a hugh series – with multiple PRs – to earn her spot in the top eight; putting five of the Lady Red Dragons on the podium was certainly an accomplishment we are proud of! Speaking of putting five on the podium, the throws squad absolutely dominated, especially in the shot put where 32 points were scored from first, second, third, fourth, and sixth place finishes; in the weight throw they earned first, third, fourth, and fifth. Overall that group scored 57 points in just two events!
 
For the  men, Roland Zanger had a day very similar to what Lily did – three season's bests across three events (the 60HH, the long jump, and the high jump), scoring well in all of them. Zion Cheatham returned in the finals of the 400 to drop a huge PR – running exceptionally tough in his third race of the weekend. Mike Alvarez really impressed – taking 5th overall in the 800 from the slow heat, after battling through a long number of months with a hip injury. As with the Lady Red Dragons, the distance crew came up big with strong efforts and great team races. In the 3k, Hunter Rautenstrauch made a great move that probably did him no favors, but worked to connect his classmate Ronan Pollard with the race in a manner that helped Ronan race for 8th. We stress that if you aren't having your day, make the effort to put your teammate into contention, and that is exactly what Hunter did!
 
In the jumps, I'll highlight the effort of Mitch Diamond, who really committed to attacking the phases of his triple jump, ending his series with a new PR to earn the runner-up position. In a lot of ways that is a good metaphor for how the weekend went – over and over again, we saw folks commit to HOW they were going to compete. They focused on what they needed to do to be successful, and that allowed the results to happen naturally. It was a great thing to be a part of! Christian Hunter is a great example of this – after a disappointing 'no mark' in the shot put during the heptathlon, he really dug down and PR'd in two of his next four events, tied his PR in another, and was 0.02 seconds off in the fourth. While obviously the no mark was disappointing, to respond that way is pretty fantastic. Nick Schaffer is somebody else who really committed to running in a positive way despite challenging circumstances – he dropped a 50.26 relay split to anchor the 4x400 relay in a tremendous solo effort!
 
The men's throws squad matched the women's team in terms of dominance, earning a total of 42 points across the two events! I'd like to point out the big PR by Jason Zaita in the shot put, Cabe Hogue in the weight throw, and Lucas Chamberlain the in shot put. Luke is another example of staying calm and focusing on the process: he wasn't expected to make the finals, but took advantage of it when he got there and popped a big indoor PR – and his second-furthest throw ever – to place in the event.
 
Finally, I'd like to acknowledge the incredible honor that Colleen Patrie earned – the SUNYAC Elite 20 award for having the highest GPA at the championships. Colleen has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA during her three years at Cortland, which is simply amazing!
 
Up next for some is the AARTFC Regional Championships just down the road at Ithaca next weekend; a few already have an NCAA bid locked up. A lot of the team is transitioning into getting ready for the outdoor season. It's hard to believe that is only 4 weeks away!

OTHER SCORING PERFORMANCES (PLACES 4-8):

4th place:
Christian Hunter (Westbury/W.T. Clarke), Heptathlon, 3,818 pts.
4x400m relay (Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post), Sean Keane (Riverhead), Ramel Radcliff (Syracuse/Henninger), Jason Zaita (Selden/Centereach)), 3:25.98
Davidson, 3,000m, 9:06.79
Vincent Smaldone (Red Hook), 5,000m, 16:07.48
Zanger, High Jump, 1.90m (6' 2.75")
 
5th place:
Deontae Bennett (Riverdale, GA/Greenwich (NY)), 60m dash, 6.97
Cheatham, 200m dash, 22.48, 22.31 prelims
Harrison Gavalas (Southampton), 400m dash, 49.67, 49.45 prelims
Mike Alvarez (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy), 800m, 2:00.89
Smaldone, 3,000m, 9:07.92
Travis Iwuagwu (Suffern), 60m hurdles, 8.67, 8.63 prelims
Collette, Shot Put, 14.18m (46' 6.25")
 
6th place:
Wingert, Mile, 4:31.25
Hunter Rautenstrauch (Buffalo/West Seneca West), 5,000m, 16:12.76
Zanger, 60m hurdles, 8.76, 8.52 prelims
Joffre Proano (Hampton Bays), Pole Vault, 3.80m (12' 5.5")
Zaita, Shot Put, 14.04m (46' 0.75")
Hogue, Weight Throw, 15.11m (49' 7")
 
7th place:
Ronan Pollard (Lindenhurst), 5,000m, 16:15.10
Hayden Erick (Dundee), Triple Jump, 13.44m (44' 1.25")
Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills), Shot Put, 13.53m (44' 4.75")
Chamberlain, Weight Throw, 15.08m (49' 5.75")
 
8th place:
Ramos, 800m, 2:02.00
Pollard, 3,000m, 9:13.01
(tied) LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial), High Jump, 1.80m (5' 10.75")