ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team earned three victories and 11 other top-four finishes at the Ithaca Invitational, held Saturday and Sunday at Ithaca's Athletics and Events Center. There was no team scoring at the event.
 
Zion Cheatham (Lockport) finished first out of 83 runners in the 200-meter dash in 22.34 seconds, followed by Kyler Alston (Latham/Shaker) in second in 22.39 seconds. Christian Kahrs (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse), Alston, Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) and Cheatham won the 4x200-meter relay in 1:28.84. Kahrs placed fifth in the 200 meters (22.69), Lassad Richards (Wheatley Heights/Half Hollow Hills West) was seventh (22.89) and Garafola finished 10th (22.98).
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) won the shot put in a field of 46 competitors with a distance of 16.33 meters (53' 7"), which currently ranks 22nd nationally in Division III. Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) finished third (15.04 meters/49' 4.25") and Elliott Supley (Peru) was fourth (14.65 meters/48' 0.75"). In the weight throw, Brunache placed second (17.22 meters/56' 6"), Collette was third (16.22 meters/53' 2.75") and Supley finished fourth (16.06 meters/52' 8.25").
 
LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial) was second out of 66 runners in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.91 seconds. Deontae Bennett (Riverdale, GA/Greenwich (NY)) was fifth in 7.05 seconds. In the long jump, Bennett finished fifth of 32 at 6.59 meters (21' 7.5") and Richardson was sixth at 6.53 meters (21' 5.25"). Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) turned in a second-place effort out of 21 competitors in the triple jump, covering 13.38 meters (43' 10.75"). Hayden Erick (Dundee) finished fourth at 12.90 meters (42' 4").
 
Travis Iwuagwu (Suffern) registered a fourth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. He posted a time of 8.63 seconds in the finals and 8.58 seconds in the prelims. Evan Cruz (Pearl River) was sixth in the finals, also officially at 8.63 seconds. Fourth, fifth and sixth place in the event were determined by thousandths of a second, with Iwuagwu at 8.622, Cruz at 8.630, and a Brockport hurdler at 8.626 for fifth.
 
Taoig Cypher (Irvington) tied for fourth place of 23 in the high jump by clearing 1.83 meters (6' 0"). Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) and Chris Mateo (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) each tied for eighth with heights of 1.78 meters (5' 10"). Carter Naginey (Groton) was fifth of 58 in the 800 meters in 1:59.20.
 
The combination of Daaron Harrell (Albany), Daniel Kahler (Centereach), Noah Stack (Buffalo/John F. Kennedy) and Ny'Jeme Radcliff (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) finished fifth of 16 in the 4x400-meter relay (3:28.62). Vincent Smaldone (Red Hook) and Hunter Rautenstrauch (Buffalo/West Seneca West) placed sixth (4:29.81) and 10th (4:33.52), respectively, in a field of 57 in the mile run.
 
Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) placed seventh of 41 in the 3,000 meters (9:00.69) and John Anderson (Ithaca) was seventh of 16 in the heptathlon (4,258 points). In the pole vault, Andrew Klammer (Carmel), Skylar McFarling (Manassas, VA/Brentsville District) and Vegas Petersen (Bardonia/Clarkstown South) each cleared 3.85 meters (12' 7.5"). Klammer officially finished eight, McFarling ninth and Petersen 10th out of 23 entrants due to number of misses at the successful height.
 
Cortland's All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers included: Cheatham (200 meters), Alston (200 meters), 4x200-meter relay (Kahrs, Alston, Garafola, Cheatham), Richardson (60-meter dash), Brunache (shot put and weight throw), Collette (shot put and weight throw), Supley (shot put and weight throw), and Anderson (heptathlon).

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

We had a pretty exciting three days of track and field!
 
The three ladies that ran at Boston University on Friday evening (Melissa Innocent, Jewel Jones, and Phoebe Peer) were exceptional! All three ran pretty significant PRs, but more important, all three handles the stress and pressure of the trip and the big-time meet atmosphere with aplomb. It really set the tone for the weekend!
 
The women's distance squad was pretty impressive in their efforts at Ithaca on Saturday. In particular Alexa Wolcott ran a great 5k in terms of tactics and toughness to just barely miss her PR, Cassidy Wendt had stellar efforts in the mile and 800, and Bri Ostheller had a pretty tremendous PR in the 500.
 
Continuing with the distance squad, milers Vinny Smaldone, Hunter Rautenstrauch, and Kyle Friedel all had really strong efforts to execute the race plan – being smart early and tough when it counted – to run PRs; Brandon Mulholland and Declan Butler followed suit later in the day during the 3000-meter race. Across the board we had a number of strong distance performances (and performers) for both the women and men, but those folks stood out the most.
 
For the jumps, Reilly Quinn was clearly a star on the day, as she had a massive PR in the long jump (7 inches), and her best high jump of the season. More impressive, both events were happening at the same time on opposite ends of the facility. Firstyear Georgia Spuches Jwaskiewicz also had a strong day, moving up her collegiate best in the high jump. Faith Hoyt cleared her season's best in the pole vault, while the men's squad of vaulters showed some improvement with Andrew Klammer and Vegas Petersen improving their marks to a 4-way tie for 5th in the conference with teammates John Anderson and Wyatt Fifield.
 
We got to see a lot of progress in the throws group! For the ladies, four set season's bests in the shot put (Hannah McMasters, Cheyenne McPeek, Giuliana Rosario, and Grace Boland) while four had season's best in the weight throw (Jennifer Ndukwu, Cheyenne McPeek, Jess Neubert, and Giuliana Rosario) – for those reading closely, you might see that Cheyenne and Giuliana had their best day of the season in both events!
 
For the men, Elliott Supley broke the 16 meter barrier in the weight throw for the first time, while Evan Collette broke the 15 meter barrier for the first time in the shot put (as opposed to earlier in the week, when he simply broke one of our weight during practice).
 
The sprints and hurdles on the track had a number of positive performances! Objectively, the men's 4x200 relay entering the all-time top 5 list along with LeBron Richardson entering the all-time top 5 list for the 60 meters are both quite an achievement. Also in the short sprint, Kendall Sobczyk had a wonderful 60m to dip back under 7.90 seconds in both the trials and finals. Evan Cruz had a great day, running PRs in both the 60 high hurdles and in the 200! We saw a lot of great depth in the men's 200 and the women's 400, where Brianna Gabbidon and Sophia Hotaling in particular both had big breakthroughs.  Finally, the 4x400s that closed out the day were good efforts across the board; an all firstyear relay on the men's side of Daaron Harrell, Daniel Kahler, Noah Stack, and Ny'Jeme Radcliff dropped a strong time – narrowly missing the regional time – and the women's top relay (where Dahiana Martinez and Abby Hardy joined Gabbidon and Hotaling) to run an impressive time!
 
Finally, we closed out the weekend with day 2 of the heptathlon for the men and with the pentathlon for the women. Katie Ball led the women's squad with a strong overall effort; Ava Schiff had a nice improvement on season's best for the multi. John Anderson had a strong PR overall, while firstyears Nick Malette and Brett Condos stayed strong through their first foray into the event.
 
We will have a hectic weekend ahead, with competition at the Ocean Breeze complex in New York City and at the dome at Utica College.