CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland won 11 events and posted three NCAA top-20 performances during the two-day Cortland Classic men's outdoor track and field meet, held Friday and Saturday at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex.
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) finished first out of 44 competitors in the shot put. His winning distance of 17.50 meters (57' 5") ranks seventh nationally in Division III. Elliott Supley (Peru) finished second (15.77 meters/51' 9"), Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) was fourth (15.10 meters/49' 6.5") and Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) finished fifth (14.68 meters/48' 2").
 
Collette finished second in the invitational division of the hammer throw at 56.90 meters (186' 8"), which ranks 17th nationally. Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post) placed third (53.03 meters/173' 11"), Brunache was fourth (52.92 meters/173' 7"), and Chamberlain was sixth (51.58 meters/169' 3"). Supley was first of 47 in the discus at 45.26 meters (148' 6"), with Hogue placing third (43.35 meters/142' 2") and Jason Zaita (Selden/Centereach) fourth (42.90 meters/140' 9").
 
In the 4x400-meter relay, Daniel Kahler (Centereach), Zion Cheatham (Lockport), Daaron Harrell (Albany) and Kyler Alston (Latham/Shaker) won the event in 3:15.02, which ranks 14th nationally. Lassad Richards (Wheatley Heights/Half Hollow Hills West), Tyler Italiano (Stony Point/North Rockland), Noah Stack (Buffalo/John F. Kennedy) Christian Kahrs (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) finished third in 3:21.08. In the 4x100-meter relay, Joshua Bishop (Highland), LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial),Cheatham and Marcello Mastrocco (West Islip) won in 41.50 seconds, while Harreell, Kahler, Stack and Kahrs placed fifth in 42.76 seconds.
 
Mastrocco finished first out of 73 competitors in the 100-meter dash in 10.45 seconds, and he posted a prelim time of 10.74 seconds. The times in the finals of the events were wind aided. Richardson finished second (10.49, 10.79 prelims), Harrell was fifth (10.56, 10.89 prelims), Cheatham placed sixth (10.63, 10.78 prelims), and Daniel Cruz (Bronx/Saint Raymond for Boys) was 12th (10.92 in prelims). Harrell (21.40) and Cheatham (21.46) finished second and third, respectively, out of 65 competitors in the 200-meter dash.
 
Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) won the 10,000 meters in 32:31.77. Vincent Smaldone (Red Hook) was fourth (34:17.18) and Christian Wissa (Somes) finished fifth (34:40.75). Richardson was first of 31 in the long jump (7.04 meters/23' 1.25"), followed by Manuel Sepulveda (East Rochester) in second (7.03 meters/23' 0.75"), and Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) won the triple jump with a distance of 14.09 meters (46' 2.75").
 
Alston was first of 20 in the 400-meter hurdles in 54.82 seconds and Declan Kennedy (Lakewood/Southwestern) finished fifth (59.30). John Anderson (Ithaca) was the decathlon winner with a score of 5,698 points, followed by Nicholas Malette (Albany/Colonie) in second with 5,378 points. Malette's score included a high jump of 1.94 meters/6' 4.25"). Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) finished third of 17 in the individual high jump competition at 1.96 meters (6' 5").
 
Carter Naginey (Groton) finished first out of 35 runners in the 800 meters in 1:57.25. Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) was fourth in the 800 meters (2:00.31) and second of 39 in the 1,500 meters (4:03.74).
 
Landon Fracasse (New Paltz) finished second (15:42.89), Kyle Friedel (Irondequoit) finished third (15:56.75), Anthony Rizzo (Rochester/Irondequoit) placed fourth (16:00.38) and Declan Butler (Yonkers/Archbishop Stepinac) was fifth (16:01.22) in the 5,000 meters. John Genova (Huntington) was third in the javelin (39.58 meters/129' 10"), and in the pole vault Skylar McFarling (Manassas, VA/Brentsville District) finished third (4.35 meters/14' 3.25") and Vegas Petersen (Bardonia/Clarkstown South) placed fourth (4.20 meters/13' 9.25"). Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) was fourth of 36 in the 400-meter dash (50.51), and Evan Cruz (Pearl River) was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.26).
 
Cortland's performances that met All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying standards were: Brunache (shot put, hammer), Supley (shot put, discus), Collette (shot put, hammer), Chamberlain (shot put, hammer), Hogue (hammer), Mastrocco (100-meter dash), Richardson (100-meter dash, long jump), Harrell (100-meter dash, 200-meter dash), Cheatham (100-meter dash, 200-meter dash), (Daniel) Cruz (100-meter dash), Mulholland (10,000 meters), Sepulveda (long jump), Anderson (decathlon), Malette (decathlon, high jump (during decathlon), Alston (400-meter hurdles), Melious (triple jump), Farnsworth (high jump), two 4x100-meter relays (Bishop, Richardson, Cheatham, Mastrocco) (Harrell, Kahler, Stack, Kahrs), and two 4x400-meter relays (Kahler, Cheatham, Harrell, Alston) (Richards, Italiano, Stack, Kahrs). Some of Cortland's performances appeared to be qualifiers but weren't due to wind beyond acceptable levels.

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

We were blessed with a warm and mostly sunny couple of days, with winds that were generally cooperative. Those are big positives for track and field! Weirdly today (Saturday) we saw a few races where the wind exceeded what is 'legal' for qualification or records, but the competition is still a pretty invaluable experience; the wind was a bit of a dampener on performance in the 400, 400 hurdles, and 800s as well.
 
For the women's squad, Brianna Gabbidon had a stellar 200 – moving into the #3 all-time spot at Cortland. The top 5 is all under 25 seconds now, which is quite a benchmark of quality! Kendall Sobczyk and Sophia Hotaling also dropped quite wonderful times as well!
 
Melissa Innocent ran a solid PR in the 800, ably assisted by a great pacing job from Mia Hannan, who herself set a new PR in the 1500! In the longest event of the weekend – the 10k, we had four strong efforts from Bri Ostheller, Jade Hornick, Abi Tessier and Lizzie Young; Bri led the way with an exceptional 2nd half of the race, running her final 5k in a time that would have been a 5k PR just a month ago.
 
In the field, triple jump excelled as the top three women (Lily Swyers, Gianna Boland, and Gabby Raymond) all jumped to new season bests – with only 1cm separating each! There's a lot of depth in that group, and they are doing a great job of putting things together!
 
Women's shot put had a wonderful meet for the squad, with strong performances particularly from Jen Ndukwu (who now owns the #3 all-time throw at Cortland), Cheyenne McPeek, Kayla Tretola, and Grace Boland; Cheyenne, Kayla, Grace, and Jess Neubert all had similar strong performances in the discus. Jess and Molly McMasters were leaders with new PRs in the hammer throw as well!
 
And finally, the heptathlon…Katie Ball not only led the way with her score, but also set a pretty significant PR (led by a new PR in the high hurdles); a trio of firstyears all had strong days, with Annabelle Schuck and Kellee Knuschke competing in their first combined-event competition ever! There's a lot to learn in the combined event, and both have really caught on quickly over a short period of time.
 
While the men's 100 finals featured some really fast times, the wind was a bit too much; Friday's preliminaries led to five Cortland men under the 11-second barrier, which is always a big one to break! Marcello Mastrocco obviously deserves kudos for his win in the 100; firstyear Daaron Harrell posted a blazing time in the 200 as well, taking over the #5 all-time spot at Cortland! Zion Cheatham also bested the old #5 mark with his 200 performance.
 
There's a lot to be happy about how Carter Naginey raced the 800 for the win (a wise coach once told me to never underestimate the value of winning your event); as well as Jordan Wingert in the 1500. The men's 5k was a pretty good overall effort for us, especially with Landon Fracasse running a big PR, Kyle Friedel breaking the 16-minute barrier, and Anthony Rizzo just narrowly missing dipping under that mark. The men's distance squad finished off Friday with strong efforts in the 10k led by Brandon Mulholland and Christian Wissa.
 
Andrew Farnsworth had a tremendous day in high jump, as did Kam Martinichio in his first competition of the outdoor season. Having two men over the 7-meter mark in long jump (LeBron Richardson and Manuel Sepulveda) is a great accomplishment for the season, let alone one night.; Brady Melious responded with surpassing the 14-meter barrier in the triple jump to lead the squad.
 
Luke Chamberlain and Quinn Jennings were big positives in the men's shot put; Elliott Supley, Cabe Hogue and Jason Zaita all led the way with the discus. John Genova had a double PR weekend, with new bests in both discus and the javelin! Elliott and Cabe probably earn the medal for the strongest hammer throws of the weekend as well.
 
And while the sun and heat probably hurt the stamina for the decathletes, they all put together a good weekend, overcoming some setbacks along the way. There were a number of strong performances across the events that make things pretty exciting!
 
We also get to have senior recognition on this weekend, which is of course great (while being somewhat sad)! While some of these folks have only been with us for a couple of years, it has been wonderful to have them as a part of our family. It's been incredibly exciting as they are able to talk about their future plans as they move on to bigger and better things!

We're split next weekend again, with the squad heading on the road to either Shippensburg University or St. John Fisher University for competition on Saturday, April 25th.