BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Cortland men's indoor track and field team won its second straight State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title and 10th overall with a commanding performance at the championship meet at Brockport.
 
The Red Dragons scored 235 points to finish first in a field of 12 teams. Penn St. Behrend was the runner-up with 81.5 points, followed by Fredonia in third with 70 and Oneonta and Plattsburgh tied for fourth with 67 each. The championship included eight SUNYAC core members along with four associate members - Penn St. Behrend, Delhi, Alfred State and Cobleskill.
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) earned Performer of the Meet honors by virtue of being the individual to score the most team points. He earned 20 of Cortland's points with wins in the weight throw (19.85 meters/65' 1.5") and the shot put (16.84 meters/55' 3"). His weight throw ranks second nationally in Division III and broke his own school record of 19.84 meters, set last week at Nazareth. It was also a SUNYAC meet record and a Brockport facility record.
 
Brunache notched two of Cortland's six individual titles at the championship. Manuel Sepulveda (East Rochester) won the triple jump with a distance of 15.11 meters (49' 7") that currently ranks third nationally in Division III. Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) claimed the title in the 5,000 meters (15:15.24), Kyler Alston (Latham/Shaker) won the 400-meter dash (49.27), and John Anderson (Ithaca) was the heptathlon champion with a score of 4,458 points.
 
The 4x400-meter relay team of Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point), Zion Cheatham (Lockport), Ny'Jeme Radcliff (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) and Alston won the conference title in 3:19.81.
 
Cortland's runner-up performances included Nicholas Malette (Albany/Colonie) in the heptathlon (4,225 points), Elliott Supley (Peru) in the shot put (15.74 meters/51' 7.75"), Declan Butler (Yonkers/Archbishop Stepinac) in the 3,000 meters (8:52.92), and Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) in the weight throw (18.74 meters/61' 5.75"). Collette's weight throw ranks 16th nationally in Division III. The Distance Medley Relay of Carter Naginey (Groton), Noah Stack (Buffalo/John F. Kennedy), Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West) and Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) placed second in 10:33.52.
 
Collette was third in the shot put (15.33 meters/50' 3.5"), Hunter Rautenstrauch (Buffalo/West Seneca West) finished third in the 5,000 meters (15:23.63), Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) was third in the triple jump (13.96 meters/45' 9.75"), and Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) placed third in the weight throw (17.16 meters/56' 3.75"). Other Cortland third-place finishers included Kyle Friedel (Irondequoit) in the mile (4:25.15), Vincent Smaldone (Red Hook) in the 3,000 meters (8:53.78), and Skylar McFarling (Manassas, VA/Brentsville District) in the pole vault (4.40 meters/14' 5.25").
 
Cortland earned a total of 25 All-SUNYAC honors (17 individuals and eight relay runners). All-league honors go to the top three places in each event. Winners are first team, runners-up are second team, and third-place finishers are third team.
 
A number of Cortland's other performances ranked in the top eight to score points at the meet:
 
4th place:
Deontae Bennett (Riverdale, GA/Greenwich (NY)), Long Jump, 7.06 meters (23' 2")
Bisbee, 800 meters, 1:59.31
Daniel Dunn (Oswego), Mile, 4:27.76
Wyatt Fifield (Salem), Pole Vault, 4.25 meters (13' 11.25")
Garafola, 400-meter dash, 49.86
Travis Iwuagwu (Suffern), 60-meter hurdles, 8.49
Chris Mateo (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor), High Jump, 1.90 meters (6' 2.75")
 
5th place:
Hayden Erick (Dundee), Triple Jump, 13.62 meters (44' 8.25")
Christian Kahrs (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse), 200-meter dash, 22.60 (22.49 prelims)
Rautenstrauch, 3,000 meters, 8:57.35
Supley, Weight Throw, 16.58 meters (54' 4.75")
 
6th place:
Evan Cruz (Pearl River), 60-meter hurdles, 8.59 (8.56 prelims)
Landon Fracasse (New Paltz), Mile, 4:30.95
Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post), Shot Put, 14.23 meters (46' 8.25")
Vegas Petersen (Bardonia/Clarkstown South), Pole Vault, 4.10 meters (13' 5.25")
LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial), 200-meter dash, 22.80 (22.57 prelims)
Sepulveda, Long Jump, 7.00 meters (22' 11.75")
Wingert, 800 meters, 2:00.17
 
7th place:
Matthew Breslin (Islip), Pole Vault, 3.95 meters (12' 11.5")
Brett Condos (Rocky Point), Heptathlon, 3,418 pts.
Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen), High Jump, 1.80 meters (5' 10.75")
Jason Zaita (Selden/Centereach), Shot Put, 14.14 meters (46' 4.75")
 
8th place:
Daniel Kahler (Centereach), 400-meter dash, 51.00
Richardson, 60-meter dash, 7.04 (6.92 prelims)
Smaldone, Mile, 4:32.59
 
Cortland's AARTFC qualifying performances:
 
Alston, 400-meter dash
Anderson, Heptathlon (if ranked in top 12; currently 14th)
Bennett, Long Jump
Brunache, Weight Throw and Shot Put
Chamberlain, Weight Throw
Collette, Weight Throw and Shot Put
Erick, Triple Jump
Garafola, 400-meter dash
Iwuagwu, 60-meter hurdles
Malette, Heptathlon (if ranked in top 12; currently 22nd); High Jump (1.93 meters during the heptathlon)
Melious, Triple Jump
Mulholland, 5,000 meters
Rautenstrauch, 5,000 meters
Sepulveda, Triple Jump and Long Jump
Supley, Shot Put and Weight Throw
 
4x400-meter relay (Garafola, Cheatham, Radcliff, Alston)
DMR (Naginey, Stack, Bisbee, Wingert)
 
Final Team Scores:
1) Cortland 235, 2) Penn St. Behrend 81.5, 3) Fredonia 70, T4) Oneonta 67, T4) Plattsburgh 67, 6) Alfred St. 39.5, 7) Buffalo St. 36, 8) Delhi 34, 9) Oswego 23, 10) Morrisville 7, 11) Cobleskill 1, 12) Potsdam 0

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

What a weekend!

We had 101 athletes competing this weekend, which by itself is a pretty amazing statistic.

We had at least 60 different season bests/PRs over the course of the weekend, which is as pretty inconceivable statistic! I won't be able to name them all in here without driving our readers crazy!

We had two folks set championship AND facility records in their events (Isaiah Brunache in the weight throw and Melissa Innocent in the mile), which is just a downright amazing statistic!

Since our sports information department does such a stellar job with recounting the all-conference and all-SUNYAC performances, I want to make mention of a few other points that stood out.

First, changes to our top 5 lists:

* Melissa's mile is now #2 on our all-time list.

* Reilly Quinn is now tied for the 4th spot in our all-time list for Long Jump; both she and firstyear Georgia Spuches Jwaskiewicz are in a 5-way time for 5th on the all time list for high jump.

* Manuel Sepulveda moves up to #2 all-time in the triple jump list with his victory!

* Cheyenne McPeek has taken sole possession of the 5th spot in our all-time list for the weight throw with her PR from the weekend!

* Evan Collette moves up to #2 all-time in weight throw history with his big PR; Lucas Chamberlain has overtaken the #5 spot in the event as well.

* I feel like Brianna Gabbidon deserves some sort of honorable mention, as her 200 time was a scant .03 seconds from the 5th spot all-time at Cortland!

The men's team had a pretty strong weekend – there were a number of pretty exceptional efforts by the squad, and in the few places where folks made a mistake, we are deep enough as a program to be able to cover things. This is great in that it does so much to free our squad up to really try and perform at our best, rather than feel the pressure of 'needing' to score. Where we came up short, it was usually from the standpoint of folks caring a little too much and trying a little too hard. Like in all sports, 'forcing it' rarely works. Overall, we aim for scoring at least 10 points per event; for the men that happened in 10 of the 17 events, which is pretty incredible!

Our women's team started out strong on Friday, but we ended the night with only a slight lead, and concerns about where we stood in events for the finals the next day. We had performed well but credit to the Oneonta women's team for how well they came out over the first day! Our women responded incredibly well on day 2! The first event of Saturday (women's long jump) saw a barrage of new PRs, and a total of 25 team points. It was stellar! That 25 points was the highest points scored in any event in the entire women's meet, and it really put us in the driver's seat.

I'm especially proud of a couple of real team efforts that we had over the course of the weekend. This is pretty rare in track and field, but so wonderful to be a part of when it happens. My first example is that I didn't need to be near the throwing circle or check the online results to know that our men were excelling in the first flight of the shot put on Saturday morning. The cheers covered it all for me.

The second was watching the throng of Cortland athletes that gathered to watch the great battle in women's high jump, supporting Georgia and Reilly in their efforts (including a very long jump-off).

The third was watching a couple of our men commit to do the work for their teammates in distance races. We had made the ask of Jordan Wingert – having already run the 800 and the DMR – to take some pacemaking chores for the start of the 3k, and for Hunter Rautenstrauch – who had earned bronze with a massive PR in the 5k the night before to then pace the middle of the race for firstyear Declan Butler. They approached that task with resolute commitment, and brought Declan through nearly perfect through the 2k mark. And Declan responded – he took advantage of that setup to run a massive PR, and nearly take the win! Having selfless teammates like that is just a wonderful group to be a part of.

The fourth, and final I will share, had happened earlier in the day on Saturday. While the 3k is at the end of the meet, the mile is early on day one. We had made the ask of Jewel Jones to rabbit the race to try and get Melissa Innocent an NCAA qualifying time. We knew that we might be passing on some team points, and worse that it could hurt Jewel's race later in the day (don't worry, she not only PR'd but also earned silver). Jewel didn't hesitate, and pulled Melissa through 800 meters like a fine Swiss watch. As Jewel stepped off, Melissa provided a tremendous finish over the final 800 to record the performance mentioned above. The thing I really like though, is that the most excitement Melissa showed on the day is when she realized that their teammate MaryJane Politi – also in the race – had PR'd 12 seconds and moved up 3 spots from her seed over the course of the race!

This is a strange time of year, as some folks are getting ready for the outdoor season (which opens for us in 4 weeks), some are tuning up for NCAAs, and a large chunk is preparing for the AARTFC Championships this weekend at the historic 168th Street Armory in New York City.