UTICA, N.Y. and ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's indoor track and field team sent competitors to meets at both Utica University and Cornell University on Saturday.
 
Utica University Fast Trax Invitational Highlights:
 
Two Red Dragons posted Division III national top-20 performances at Utica's Fast Trax Invitational. Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) finished first of 42 in the shot put at 16.83 meters (55' 3"), which ranks 15th nationally and first in the SUNYAC, and Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) was first of 41 in the weight throw at 18.29 meters (60' 0.25"), which is 18th in the nation and second in the SUNYAC.
 
Cortland earned six of the top 10 spots in the shot put at the meet In addition to Brunache's win, Elliot Supley (Peru) was second at 15.88 meters (52' 1.25"), Collette finished third (15.17 meters/49' 9.25"), Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) was fifth (14.29 meters/46' 10.75"), Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post) placed eighth (13.69 meters/44' 11"), and Sean Keane (Riverhead) ended 10th (13.38 meters/43' 10.75"). In the weight throw, Hogue finished fifth (15.70 meters/51' 6.25"), Supley was seventh (15.45 meters/50' 8.25"), and Chamberlain finished ninth (15.32 meters/50' 3.25").
 
Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) finished third of 17 in the triple jump with a distance of 13.56 meters (44' 6"). Hayden Erick (Dundee) was fifth at 13.12 meters (43' 0.5"). In the long jump, Manuel Sepulveda (East Rochester) was fourth of 28 at 6.80 meters (22' 3.75"), followed by Melious in sixth (6.51 meters/21' 4.25") and Nicholas Malette (Albany/Colonie) in seventh (6.35 meters/20' 10").
 
Deontae Bennett (Riverdale, GA/Greenwich (NY)) finished second of 53 sprinters in the 60-meter dash, covering the distance in 7.06 seconds in the finals. John Anderson (Ithaca) placed ninth of 24 in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.08 seconds.
 
Skylar McFarling (Manassas, VA/Brentsville District) was fourth of 17 in the pole vault at 4.38 meters (14' 4.5"), which ranks second in the SUNYAC this season. Anderson and Vegas Petersen (Bardonia/Clarkstown South) tied for sixth place, each clearing 4.08 meters (13' 4.5"). Kam Martinichio (Binghamton /Chenango Valley) was sixth of 19 in the high jump (1.80 meters/5' 10.75").
 
Cortland's All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers at the meet were Collette (weight throw and shot put), Hogue (weight throw), Supley (shot put), Sepulveda (long jump) and Melious (triple jump).
 
Cornell University Robert Kane Invitational Highlights:
 
The top performance for the Red Dragons at Cornell's Kane Invitational came from the 4x400-meter relay team of Kyler Alston (Latham/Shaker), Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point), Ny'Jeme Radcliff (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) and Zion Cheatham (Lockport). They won the event in 3:22.44, which is an AARTFC qualifier and the top time in the SUNYAC this winter.
 
Alston finished fourth in a field of 28 runners in the 200-meter dash in 22.69 seconds. Daaron Harrell (Albany) was fifth (22.93), Joshua Bishop (Highland) finished eighth (23.15), Daniel Kahler (Centereach) placed ninth (23.26) and Radcliff was 10th (23.38). Kahler finished sixth of 19 (51.11) and Noah Stack (Buffalo/John F. Kennedy) was seventh (51.61) in the 400-meter dash. Bishop finished sixth of 34 in the 60-meter dash (7.11) and Daniel Cruz (Bronx/Saint Raymond for Boys) was seventh (7.13, 7.11 prelims).
 
Taoig Cypher (Irvington) registered a pair of runner-up field finishes. He was second in the high jump at 1.88 meters (6' 2") and second in the triple jump at 12.73 meters (41' 9.25"). Chris Mateo (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) also cleared 1.88 metes (6' 2") in the high jump and officially finished third, and Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) placed fourth at 1.80 meters (5' 10.75").
 
Five Cortland runners finished in the top 10 among 33 in the mile. Vincent Smaldone (Red Hook) was sixth in 4:27.79, Carter Naginey (Groton) finished seventh (4:28.33), Hunter Rautenstrauch (Buffalo/West Seneca West) placed eighth (4:28.88), Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) finished ninth (4:28.94) and Landon Fracasse (New Paltz) was 10th (4:29.04).
 
Evan Cruz (Pearl River) finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.63) and Travis Iwuagwu (Suffern) was sixth (8.69, 8.62 prelims). Anthony Rizzo (Rochester/Irondequoit) finished sixth in the 5,000 meters (16:27.03), followed by Christian Wissa (Somers) in seventh (16:34.23). Three Red Dragons were in the top 10 among 25 in the 800 meters - Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West) in seventh (1:59.35), Jacob Sandak (Mount Sinai) in ninth (2:03.79) and Thomas Loeb-Lojko (New York/West End Secondary School) in 10th (2:03.84) - and Kyle Friedel (Irondequoit) finished 10th of 23 in the 3,000 meters (9:06.44).

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

We took on the Northeast with meets at Cornell, Utica, and Boston University, and it was quite successful!
 
The report from Boston is the easiest – Melissa Innocent makes a statement with her 3000 performance, moving up to #3 on the Cortland All-Time list (and considering that she moved past an NCAA Champion to take that spot, that's quite an achievement). It wasn't just the effort and the time that are impressive, but that she is really learning to make great decisions during the race to put herself in the position to run fast.
 
Utica was mostly focused on field events; Jennifer Ndukwu threw the weight much farther than ever before, moving up to #2 all-time at Cortland. She also had big PR in the shot put for a pretty impressive day! Kayla Tretola had an impressive PR in the shot put as well – moving to within a centimeter of being #4 on our all-time list. All told 6 of the women had season bests in shot, while 5 had season bests in weight! For the men, 5 men had season bests in the weight – led by Evan Collette's new PR – and 6 men also had season bests in the shot put.
 
Pole vault was a huge success at Utica as well – Faith Hoyt jumped great to take the win, which is pretty rare in collegiate track and field, so it's really enjoyable! All 5 men jumping at the meet jumped season bests, with 4 of the 5 jumping lifetime bests – led by Skylar McFarling's jump!
 
We had some strong horizontal jumps at Utica as well, with Lillian Swyers and Brady Melious hitting season bests in triple jump; Hannah Nolan led a slew of four women with season bests in the long jump as she flew past the 16' barrier! To close out Utica, firstyear combined-eventer Nicholas Malette should get mention for 3 college PRs in 3 events – the long jump, the 60 hurdles, and the 400.
 
Cornell was mostly focused on the track, although most of the high jump squad competed with, with great results led by the new PRs for Taoig Cypher and Reilly Quinn for the men and women respectively. The day started out great with a team effort in the women's 5k. With only Cortland athletes in the race, leadership and sacrifice from Alexa Wolcott and Phoebe Peer went a long ways to help get Anne Barney, Mia McClaine, and Gwenivere Connelly qualified to the conference meet. That theme showed up again later in the day, as Jordan Wingert took the lead in the 2nd heat of the mile pulling the team out in the split we were hoping for at 800. He wasn't scheduled to be a rabbit, but noticed the need and stepped up to fill it. It was pretty exciting to have 5 men go under 4:30 on the day, led by Vincent Smaldone from the fast heat!
 
We saw a number of good efforts across the 800s, but I'd like to highlight Jacob Sandak for making the adjustment on how he raced from last week to this week to drop his time a decent amount, and to move up in the conference rankings. He put together a great race, and should be ready for the next step!
 
For the sprints, we saw great efforts which are key as we are approaching championship season. Kendall Sobczyk improving on her lifetime best in the 60 was obviously great, but the fact that she proved there's a lot more there with the adjustments she made in her 200 were wonderful to see!. Daniel Kahler ran a great 400 but still has more to give through his finish. Fellow firstyear Daaron Harrell made adjustments from his 60 to drop a big improvement in the 200, and most likely earn a conference spot in that race as well. Firstyear Brianna Gabbidon had a great double PR day in the 600 and the 200, while classmate Anna Miller did the same in the 200 and the 400!
 
This next weekend will be some folks at Cornell to refine performances and/or to chase qualifying performances; some others will be able to train through the weekend with an eye towards the upcoming conference, AARTFC, and NCAA championships!