ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team finished in second place out of four teams at a quad meet hosted by Ithaca College. TCNJ won the title with 162 points, followed by Cortland with 113, Ithaca with 112 and Oneonta with 77.
 
Scoring was awarded on a 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, with schools allowed only two scoring performances apiece in each event. Relays were limited to one score per school.
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) won both the shot put at 15.70 meters (51' 6.25") and the weight throw at 17.89 meters (58' 8.5"). Manuel Sepulveda (East Rochester) won the triple jump at 14.68 meters (48' 2") and finished third in the 60-meter dash (7.09).
 
The 4x400-meter relay team of Lassad Richards (Wheatley Heights/Half Hollow Hills West), Christian Kahrs (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse), Zion Cheatham (Lockport) and Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) finished second in 3:23.85. Cheatham finished second in the 200-meter dash (22.36), Hayden Erick (Dundee) was runner-up in the triple jump (13.34 meters/43' 9.25"), Elliott Supley (Peru) finished second in the shot put (15.15 meters/49' 8.5") and third in the weight throw (15.19 meters/49' 10"), and Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) placed second in the weight throw (17.02 meters/55' 10.25").
 
LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial) posted third-place finishes in the 200-meter dash (22.87) and the long jump (6.60 meters/21' 8"). Nicholas Malette (Albany/Colonie) finished third in the high jump (1.84 meters/6' 0.5"). Sean Keane (Riverhead) was the fourth-place finisher in the weight throw (15.10 meters/49' 6.5") and Taoig Cypher (Irvington) tied for fourth in the high jump (1.84 meters/6' 0.5").
 
Cortland athletes who registered All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks were Sepulveda (triple jump), Brunache (shot put and weight throw), Cheatham (200-meter dash), Supley (shot put), Collette (weight throw) and the 4x400-meter relay (Richards, Kahrs, Cheatham and Garafola).

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

I think the best word to describe today's meet is tired. That's what the team is, and that's OK!
 
Fatigue can be the result of quality training, and the folks that have been back have been working! That work leads to fatigue, and it takes away a bit from performance. And that's not a bad thing when viewed over the perspective of the season – but it sure can be frustrating in the moment, especially for the athletes. The coaches are quite proud with how the team handled this challenge over the course of the day!
 
We can always control our attitude and our effort – how we complete – and that went quite well over the day. So overall there's a lot to feel positive with!
 
Despite the hard work that we have been putting in, a few performances really stood out across the day. In no particular order, I'd like to highlight Gianna Boland with a PR in the hurdles, and one of her best jumps ever in the triple jump, Melissa Innocent for breaking the 2:20 barrier in the 800, Phoebe Peer and Jade Hornick who both set new PRs in the mile by over 15 seconds, Bri Ostheller who really pushed the pace in the middle of the mile helping not only Jade but also firstyear Cassidy Wendt; it was great to see firstyears Brianna Gabbidon and Giuliana Rosario competing for the first time in a Cortland uniform, along with having senior Jennifer Ndukwu return after student teaching in the fall! For the men, Manuel Sepulveda put together a stellar day not only in the 60m, but more impressive in the triple jump as he claimed the #5 all-time spot at Cortland, using only a 5-step approach. We wanted to stay on a shorter run; that kind of distance with so few steps is quite impressive! Brandon Mulholland and Hunter Rautenstrauch both competed well and ran new PRs in the mile, and we were quite happy with the efforts in the sprints especially later in the day across the 4x400 relays.
 
We have another week of winter session training coming up, with a return to Ithaca for a great smaller invitational this upcoming weekend. We're excited to have more folks returning and competing, as well as for the progress we will continue to make!