CONWAY, S.C. - The Daemen College men's track and field team opened the outdoor portion of its 2014-15 schedule here this weekend by taking part in the Coastal Carolina University Invitational. A total of 42 institutions and 1,422 student athletes competed in the event.

School-record performances by freshmen Patrick Dorsey (Cheektowaga, N.Y./John F. Kennedy) and Nick Marlin (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena), sophomore Alex Reid (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) and junior Jeremy Rushok (Akron, N.Y./Buffalo State) highlighted the two-day event for Daemen.

Reid actually established two school-records. He posted a time of 11:44 in the seeded 100-meter dash, narrowly eclipsing the previous school-record he set last spring at the Golden Eagle Invite (11.45). He also ran the seeded 200-meter dash in a time of 22.83 to break the school-record of 22.90 set by Sam Rugg in 2013. Reid's time in the 200-meter dash was good for a 17th-place finish.

Dorsey set the new school standard in the hammer throw with a toss of 28.75, bettering the previous mark of 24.00 set by Sean O'Brien in 2013. Marlin tied for fourth in the high jump, and tied the school-record of 1.78 meters set by Igor Bjelica in 2011. Rushok placed 15th in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:56.87, breaking the previous school-record of 15:57.92 set by current teammate Zach Eustance (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton) at the 2014 East Coast Conference Outdoor Championships.

Sophomore Matt VanDeMortel (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) and classmate Nigel Cordulla (Cheektowaga, N.Y./John F. Kennedy) both posted top-10 finishes in the 800-meter run, as VanDeMortel placed sixth with a time of 2:01.75 and Cordulla finished eighth with a time of 2:03.56. Daemen was the only school to place two runners in the top-10 in that event.

Several top-20 finishes were recorded by Daemen student-athletes.  Freshman Manny Regis (New York City, N.Y./East Side Community) placed 15th in the 100-meter dash (12.17), while classmate George Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y./University Heights) placed 20th in the same event (12.60). Junior Brandon Tytka (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) posted a 17th place showing in the 200-meter dash (23.78). Junior Travis Enser (West Valley, N.Y./West Valley Central) and Tytka both posted top-20 efforts in the 400-meter dash, with Enser placing 12th (56.10) and Tytka 20th (59.47).

Rushok turned in a 19th-place effort (9:24.05) in the 3,000-meter run, while freshman Matt McCann (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) placed 18th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:32.95). Reid placed 14th in both the triple jump (12.23 meters) and the seeded long jump (6.16 meters), while senior Zac Ekdahl (Middlesex, N.Y./Marcus Whitman) finished 20th in the seeded 800-meter run 2:03.25).

Daemen's 4x800 relay team of Ekdahl, Cordulla, VanDeMortel and sophomore Mike Capestrani (Jamestown, N.Y./Jamestown) placed 19th with a time of 8:46.68 and came just over a second shy of breaking the school-record (8:45.00) set in 2012. 

Daemen is idle until April 4 when it takes part in the University of Rochester Alumni Invitational.

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