PITTSFORD, N.Y. and SHIPPENSBURG, PA. – In its final tune-up for the SUNYAC Championship meet, the Cortland men's outdoor track and field team sent competitors to both the St. John Fisher Cardinal Classic and the Shippensburg University Paul Kaiser Classic on Saturday.
 
St. John Fisher Highlights:
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) highlighted Cortland's performances at St. John Fisher with three efforts that met All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying standards. He finished first of 22 in the discus with a toss of 45.33 meters (148' 8"), placed second of 14 in the shot put with a distance of 14.98 meters (49' 1.75"), and was third of 21 in the hammer throw at 52.27 meters (171' 6").
 
Skylar McFarling (Manassas, VA/Brentsville District) also posted an AARTFC qualifying mark with his pole vault of 4.54 meters (14' 10.75"), which placed him third among 20 competitors. Vegas Petersen (Bardonia/Clarkstown South) finished fourth with a height of 4.24 meters (13' 11").
 
Hayden Erick (Dundee) finished second in the triple jump with a distance of 13.28 meters (43' 7"). In the shot put, Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) finished third at 13.69 meters (44' 11") and Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post) was fifth at 13.23 meters (43' 5"). Hogue also finished fifth in the discus with a throw of 37.73 meters (123' 9") and eighth in the hammer throw at 45.89 meters (150' 6").
 
Tommy Martin (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) placed fourth in the javelin (42.12 meters/138' 2"), while John Genova (Huntington) was seventh (38.92 meters/127' 8"). Four Red Dragons earned top-eight finishes in the long jump. Erick was fourth at 5.97 meters (19' 7"), followed by John Anderson (Ithaca) in fifth (5.95 meters/19' 6.25"), Nicholas Malette (Albany/Colonie) in sixth (5.95 meters/19' 6.25") and Maddox Collier-Little (Lindenhurst) in eighth (5.66 meters/18' 7"). Anderson earned the fifth spot by having a better second jump compared to Malette.
 
Anderson finished fourth (15.94) and Malette was seventh (16.60) in the 110-meter hurdles, based on their prelim times. Neither competed in the finals. Kam Martinichio (Binghamton/Chenango Valley) was fourth in the high jump (1.74 meters/5' 8.5"), and Collier-Little finished seventh in the triple jump (12.16 meters/39' 10.75").
 
Shippensburg Highlights:
 
At Shippensburg, the 4x100-meter relay team of Daaron Harrell (Albany), LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial), Zion Cheatham (Lockport) and Marcello Mastrocco (West Islip) won the event with an AARTFC qualifying time of 41.72 seconds. Cortland also took third in the event as Joshua Bishop (Highland), Christian Kahrs (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse), Noah Stack (Buffalo/John F. Kennedy) and Daniel Cruz (Bronx/Saint Raymond for Boys) finished in 43.49 seconds.
 
Cruz finished 20th of 74 in the 100-meter dash in 11.40 seconds, while Bishop was 23rd in 11.43 seconds. In the 200-meter dash, Richarson finished sixth of 61 in 22.41 seconds, Bishop placed ninth (22.61) and Stack was 20th (22.88).
 
Evan Cruz (Pearl River) finished fourth of 24 in the 110-meter hurdles in 16.01 seconds (15.51 prelims), while in the 400-meter hurdles Declan Kennedy (Lakewood/Southwestern) was fifth of 24 (57.60), CK Khamani (Albany) finished eighth (58.84) and Aidan Aguirre (Hicksville) finished 11th (1:00.18).
 
Six Red Dragons finished in the top 13 among 57 runners in the 1,500 meters. Carter Naginey (Groton) placed fifth in 4:03.43, followed by Kyle Friedel (Irondequoit) in sixth (4:03.67) and Declan Butler (Yonkers/Archbishop Stepinac) in seventh (4:04.82). Daniel Dunn (Oswego) placed 10th (4:06.46), Landon Fracasse (New Paltz) was 11th (4:06.97) and Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) finished 13th (4:07.86).
 
Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West) finished sixth out of 70 runners in the 800 meters in 1:55.94. Friedel was 15th (2:00.61) and Naginey finished 18th (2:01.78). In the 400 meters, Harrell placed seventh of 36 in 50.62 seconds, followed by Daniel Kahler (Centereach) in eighth (50.76), Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) in ninth (50.82), Stack in 10th (51.04) and Tyler Italiano (Stony Point/North Rockland) in 14th (51.63).
 
Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) finished fourth of 23 in the triple jump at 13.33 meters (43' 9"). In the long jump, Richardson was fourth of 23 at 6.56 meters (21' 6.25") and Melious placed 10th at 6.16 meters (20' 2.5"), and Taoig Cypher (Irvington) was eighth of 22 in the high jump with a height of 1.80 meters (5' 10.75").

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

After weeks of pretty favorable weather on meet days, we ran into a doozy this weekend both in Shippensburg and in Rochester. That can make things tough! The real challenge – and the real learning opportunity – is to stay focused and committed despite less than ideal circumstances. For a lot of the team this was a good learning experience about why that is important, but we certainly had some folks that excelled at that through the weekend!
 
At Shippensburg, Evan Curz led off with a good day in the high hurdles, Kendall Sobczyk followed closely behind with her efforts across the 100 and 4x100 relay. Brady Melious and LeBron Richardson both put in strong days across multiple events; the 400 went fairly well with Abby Hardy, Noah Stack, and Christian Kahrs all posting season bests! Middle distance efforts were generally positive for the group (the conditions were pretty good), with kudos to Kelly Newman and Alexa Wolcott for setting new bests in the 800 and 1500 respectively, and Carter Naginey, Daniel Dunn, and Anthony Rizzo doing the same (all in the men's 1500). CK Khamani had an impressive finish to post a new best in the 400 hurdles! Georgia Spuches Jwaskiewicz had a fantastic day in women's high jump, with Lillian Swyers and Annabelle Schuck put together strong efforts in women's long jump.
 
At St. John Fisher, the rain was harder and the temperature about 10 degrees colder, which created a bit more of an issue (excepting the pole vault, which was allowed inside – something Skylar McFarling took advantage of with a new best)! Amelia Konstanty was a star on the day with a strong performance in the 400 hurdles. John Genova had a strong effort in javelin, as did Kellee Knuschke; in the rest of the throws the notable efforts were from Cheyenne McPeek in discus and hammer, Kayla Tretola in discus, and Isaiah Brunache in discus. Leah Schleicher jumped her season best in the triple jump – which was quite an achievement; Hayden Erick had a strong day in the same event.
 
SUNYACs is this upcoming weekend! We're proud to host, and excited for the opportunity to show the program off at home!