2026 SUNYAC outdoor track and field championships
Friday-Saturday, May 1-2, 2026 – 2 p.m./10 a.m.
The matchup
The Bengals are set to kick off their championship season as they head to Cortland for SUNYAC Championships. Last season, the men took home seventh overall while the women finished eighth. On the men's side, the last SUNYAC title for outdoor was the 1967 season, while the women have yet to win a team title.
The Bengal men breakdown
The Bengal men will send Terrell Price (Depew, NY/Depew), Shiloh Cornel (Cambria Heights, NY/Cardozo), and Pablo Ortiz (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca East) in the main sprints, with Price and Cornel in both the 200-meter and 400-meter and Ortiz racing his main event in the 400-meter. Luke Triplet (Depew, NY/Depew), Sidney Morris (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore East), and Andy Flores-Cadiz (Honolulu, HI/Wesley Chapel) will race the 800-meter run, with Triplet also racing the 1,500-meter.
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In the distance events, Mattia Case (Decatur, IL/MacArthur), Noah Holden (Clarence Center, NY/Clarence), Ricky Curiel (East Amherst, NY/Clarence), and Josh Mayer (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) will run the 5,000-meter, and Mayer and Curiel will tackle the 10,000-meter run. Case and Holden will also be seen in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The hurdling trio of Nolan Lyon (North Tonawanda, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield), Jalil Coppedge (Bronx, NY/Ralph R. McKee), and Julius Arias (Lackawanna, NY/Lackawanna) will showcase their talents in the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles, and Michael Smith (Trinidad & Tobago/Bishop's) will make his SUNYAC Championship debut in the high jump. Quinn Grover (Buffalo, NY/Alden) and Christian Chance (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream) will represent the Bengals in the triple jump.
In the throws, Joseph O'Connell (West Babylon, NY/Huntington), Donovan DuBard (Cheektowaga, NY/Cheektowaga), Ethan Mitrano (Penfield, NY/Penfield), Matthew Thompson (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa), and Bryan Honan (Cortland, NY/Cortland) will be spread across the shot put, hammer throw, discus throw, and javelin throw.
Rounding out the field for the Bengal men will be Harrison Barrett (Wheatfield, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield), Jasiah Cole (Staten Island, NY/Susan E. Wagner), and Tajkeoni Ryan (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) in the decathlon.
The Bengal women breakdown
Shamiah Brown (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) will handle the sprints for the Bengals, racing the 200 and 400-meter dash. Katelyn Becker (Buffalo, NY/School for Applied Tech) will race the 800-meter for Buffalo State, and Natalia Sawyer (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) will look to win her third career title in the 400-meter hurdles. In the distance events, Jorja Smith (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore East) and Lexi Hoffman (Buffalo, NY/Kenmore East) will race the 5,000-meter run.
Rounding out the field for the Bengal women will be Madison MacNeill (Buffalo, NY/West Seneca West) and Heidi House (Sanborn, NY/Starpoint) in the high jump, and Nyla Wilson-Epps (Buffalo, NY/Tapestry) making her outdoor championship debut in the shot put, discus throw, and hammer throw.
Assessing the competition
Buffalo State will see the likes of Alfred State, Cortland, Fredonia, Morrisville, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Penn State-Behrend, Cobleskill, and Delhi.
Last season, Cortland claimed its first title on the men's side since 2017, snapping Geneseo's run of six straight conference championships. On the women's side, Cortland won its first team title since 2014. Geneseo had won each of the previous seven titles after Oneonta was crowned champion in 2016.
