UTICA, N.Y. - The Oneonta men's track & field team began the 2024-25 campaign at Saturday's Utica Holiday Invitational. While there was no team scoring, the Red Dragons had strong individual performances. In total, nine Red Dragons finished in the top five of their events.

Starting the day was the 5,000-meter race that fifth-year John Balk, Jr. (Suffern, NY/Suffern) placed fifth in with a 15:36.19.

Sophomore Tariq Earl (Centereach, NY/Centereach) and freshman Masen Valachovic (Mayfield, NY/Mayfield) qualified for the 60-meter hurdle finals. Earl ran an 8.96 in the prelims, while Valachovic crossed at 9.02. Earl took third in the finals at 8.63, and Valachovic placed fifth at 8.80.

Senior Gabe Burns (Riverhead, NY/Riverhead) led Oneonta with a fourth-place finish in the mile at 4:33.46. In the 300-meter, junior Cam Spears (Bronx, NY/Monroe Woodbury) crossed fifth overall (36.83), and junior Nick Darrigo (Albany, NY/Guilderland) was ninth (37.84). Freshman Thomas Stasichin () took seventh in the 400-meter at 51.12, and Valachovic finished tenth with a 52.21.

Fifth-year Jonthomas Bierman (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck) won the 3,000-meter with an AARTFC qualifying time of 8:46.87. The time was nearly 20 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Sophomore Lucas Berg (Nyack, NY/Nyack) was seventh at 9:31.43, and freshman Brady McGowan (Seaford, NY/Seaford) was ninth at 9:33.65.

Oneonta continued to perform solidly at the field events. Junior Sawyer Eckberg (Maryland, NY/Laurens-Milford) was eighth in the weight throw at 13.81 meters, while sophomore Elijah Cruz (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush Central) took ninth at 13.70 meters. Eckberg took eighth in the shot put with a throw of 12.85 meters.

Freshman Ayobami Adebayo (Long Island, NY/Longwood) finished sixth in the long jump at 6.65 meters. In the high jump, Adebayo was third at 1.88 meters, and sophomore Jayden Tsoi (North White Plains, NY/Valhalla High School) took fourth at 1.80 meters. Senior Josh Jerome (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) cleared 13.94 meters in the triple jump to finish fourth overall.  

Oneonta next competes at the Cornell Southern Tier Invite on Jan. 11.