CORTLAND, N.Y - The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team won its second straight State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championship and its 16th overall at the 12-team conference championship meet Friday and Saturday. Cortland hosted the event.
 
Cortland finished with 240 points and Penn St. Behrend was the runner-up with 125.5 points. Buffalo State (92), Oneonta (79.5), Plattsburgh (79) and Fredonia (73.5) rounded out the top six. The field included eight SUNYAC core member schools along with four associate members - Penn St. Behrend, Delhi, Alfred State and Cobleskill.
 
Cortland won eight individual and one relay conference championship at the meet, highlighted by a record-setting performance in the hammer throw by Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa). His winning throw of 60.05 meters (197' 0") broke both the SUNYAC championship meet record of 59.64 meters (195' 8"), set by Brockport's Matthew Jackson, and the Cortland school record of 58.45 meters (191' 9") by current Red Dragon assistant coach Mitch Makowski, both established during the 2024 season. Collette currently ranks seventh nationally in Division III in the event this spring.
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) took home two SUNYAC titles with his wins in the shot put (16.94 meters/55' 7") and the discus (48.32 meters/158' 6"). Zion Cheatham (Lockport) won the 400-meter dash (48.69), Kyler Alston (Latham/Shaker) was the 400-meter hurdles champion (53.69), and Manuel Sepulveda (East Rochester) won the triple jump (14.36 meters/47' 1.5").
 
Also victorious for the Red Dragons were John Anderson (Ithaca) in the decathlon (5,555 points) and Tommy Martin (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) in the javelin (51.65 meters/169' 5"), along with the 4x400-meter relay squad of Ny'Jeme Radcliff (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor), Noah Stack (Buffalo/John F. Kennedy), Tyle Italiano (Stony Point/North Rockland) and Christian Kahrs (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse), which finished in 3:20.12.
 
Three Red Dragons posted runner-up finishes at the meet. Jonathan Slick was second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:45.25) and Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) finished second in the high jump (1.95 meters/6' 4.75"). Declan Kennedy (Lakewood/Southwestern) was the runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles (56.06).
 
Daaron Harrell (Albany) finished third in the 200-meter dash (22.08, 21.89 prelims), Daniel Kahler (Centereach) finished second in the 400-meter dash (49.16, 49.03 prelims), and Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West) was second in the 800 meters (1:55.03, 1:54.97 prelims). Drew Miller (Cornwall-on-Hudson/Cornwall Central) placed third in the 400-meter hurdles (56.80) and Kyle Friedel (Irondequoit) finished third in the 1,500 meters (4:03.50).
 
Cortland also picked up third-place finishes from: LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial) in the long jump (6.90 meters/22' 7.75"); Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post) in the hammer throw (54.99 meters/180' 5"); Nicholas Malette (Albany/Colonie) in the decathlon (5,401 points); and Skylar McFarling (Manassas, VA/Brentsville District) in the pole vault (4.40 meters/14' 5.25').
 
The top three finishers in each event earn All-SUNYAC honors – winners are first team, runners-up are second team and third-place finishers are third team, with their official all-league designation from the conference based on their best placement.

Numerous Cortland performances in addition to those above ranked in the top eight to score points at the meet. Those performances included:
 
4th place:
Collette, Shot Put, 15.70 meters (51' 6.25")
Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville), Triple Jump, 13.80 meters (45' 3.5")
Vegas Petersen (Bardonia/Clarkstown South), Pole Vault, 4.40 meters (14' 5.25")
Richardson, 100-meter dash, 10.79
Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill), 1,500 meters, 4:03.75
 
5th place:
Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills), Shot Put, 15.59 meters (51' 1.75")
Chamberlain, Discus, 43.65 meters (143' 2")
Logan Darling (Homer), Hammer Throw, 53.42 meters (175' 3")
Daniel Dunn (Oswego), 1,500 meters, 4:06.67
Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill), 10,000 meters, 33:16.18
Carter Naginey (Groton), 800 meters, 1:56.93 (1:56.80 prelims)
 
6th place:
Matthew Breslin (Islip), Pole Vault, 3.80 meters (12' 5.5")
Brett Condos (Rocky Point), Decathlon, 4,069 points
Landon Fracasse (New Paltz), 5,000 meters, 15:40.91
Richardson, 200-meter dash, 22.29 (21.74 prelims)
Anthony Rizzo (Rochester/Irondequoit), 3,000-meter steeplechase, 10:00.88
 
7th place:
Chamberlain, Hammer Throw, 52.32 meters (171' 8")
Hogue, Discus, 42.45 meters (139' 3")
Christian Wissa (Somers), 10,000 meters, 33:59.14
 
8th place:
Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point), 400-meter dash, 50.53 (49.72 prelims)
Declan Butler (Yonkers/Archbishop Stepinac), 5,000 meters, 15:54.31

Cortland will potentially compete at "Last Chance" meets over the next week, and the Red Dragons will compete at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Outdoor Championships May 13-14 at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. Cortland's AARTFC qualifiers during the SUNYAC Championships were:
 
Alston, 400-meter hurdles
Anderson, Decathlon (if in top 16)
Bisbee, 800 meters
Brunache, Shot Put and Discus
Chamberlain, Shot Put and Hammer Throw
Cheatham, 400-meter dash
Collette, Hammer Throw and Shot Put
Darling, Hammer THrow
Farnsworth, High Jump
Harrell, 200-meter dash (prelims)
Hogue, Hammer Throw
Travis Iwuagwu (Suffern), 110-meter hurdles (9th place, 15.47)
Kahler, 400-meter dash
Malette, Decathlon (if in top 16)
Melious, Triple Jump
Richardson, Long Jump, 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash (prelims)
Sepulveda, Triple Jump
Slick, 3,000-meter steeplechase
 
4x400-meter relay (Radcliff, Stack, Italiano, Kahrs)

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

Quite a weekend by both squads!

The men's team overall had a very businesslike approach to the weekend. We wanted to make sure that we were well disciplined in our approach and execution, and certainly achieved that for the most part! The objective highlight has to be the new school record in the men's Hammer Throw by Evan Collette – the first Cortland athlete to break the 60-meter mark!
 
Obviously the event winners, all-conference performers, and point scorers all deserve a good measure of recognition. Knowing how well our sports information staff will do in the recap of the weekend, I'd like to note a few performances or performers that really achieved as well.
 
LeBron Richardson had quite a weekend, splitting duty between the long jump, the 100, and the 200. His performance in any individual event would have been noteworthy; the effort and production across all three is quite impressive! While John Anderson continued his streak of conference titles in the combined event between indoor and outdoor, firstyear Nick Malette chose to compete despite a quad strain that developed on Monday; to be over 5000 points while dealing with that is quite a tough and admirable effort!
 
Having a 1-2-3 sweep in the 400 hurdles is quite a fun thing; the 3rd-place finisher Drew Miller was only competing in the 5th 400 hurdle race of his career! We were pretty excited when he opened his career just over 60 seconds; that he dropped nearly 4 seconds is 5 weeks is something pretty special!
 
Aspiring 400 hurdle Luke Chamberlain really held his own in the throws, with PRs in both shot and discus to go along with nearly his furthest in the hammer. Scoring in all three events is quite a challenge – he was the only Red Dragon on the men's side to achieve that in the throws!
 
For the women's squad, the team really brought it over the weekend! We had a few missteps here and there, but the team effort was pretty incredible! We always talk about scoring 10 points as a team per event; we averaged well over that mark, and in fact scored more than 10 points in 15 of the 21 events! Even in events where we weren't 'scheduled' to score well, we scored!
 
As a senior, Kendall Sobczyk very much led the way today with big runs in the 100, 200, and as the anchor of the 400 relay – overtaking first place early in her leg and holding on! It's pretty telling to me that her other relay team members – Brianna Gabbidon, Sophia Hotaling, and Eilise Marino all scored in at least one individual event as well! Bri was a workhouse – running the 100 and 200 as well, and requesting to run the 4x400! In fact when you include the other members of the 4x400, those 6 women accounted for 62 points!
 
Gianna Boland put together a great weekend – not only with her triple jump victory (with a mark that is now #4 all-time at Cortland), but also with a big PR in the hurdles to score 5th! Lilly Swyers was a valuable contributor with valuable points across long jump, triple jump, and the high hurdles; Cheyenne McPeek led a strong contingent in the throws scoring in the discus, hammer, and shot! Hannah Nolan should get a shout out at as well – she entered the meet not ranked in scoring position for a single event, and ending up scoring in all three – a great way to cap her career with us!
 
I'd be remiss to not shout out our distance squad, especially in the longer races. In the 10k, Bri Ostheller ran a masterful race to set a huge new PR and earn the title, both Jade Hornick and Abi Tessier were tough in relatively solo efforts to set new PRs and score – bringing in 17 points on the first night really went a long ways to set the tone for the team! Melissa Innocent and Phoebe Peer closed out the individual track events with a 1-2 finish, taking control at around the 3k mark; Melissa finished strong with her second-best performance ever; Phoebe set a new PR and dipped under the 18-minute mark which is stellar!
 
With the conclusion of SUNYACs, the season has concluded for most of the squad. This is a sad time of year from that standpoint. A select folks will be participating in last chance meets next weekend; some will also attend the AARTFC Championships on May 13th and 14th as a last-chance opportunity.