BROCKPORT, N.Y. - Sophomore Chris Schimkus (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) took gold in the 5,000-meter race to open the first day of the SUNYAC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday evening. The Red Dragons also took first in the distance medley relay for the second year. Oneonta is second with 37 points, while Cortland is first with 83.5 points.

Oneonta opened the track events with the 60-meter hurdles, where junior Tariq Earl (Centereach, NY/Centereach) won the prelims at 8.17 to reach tomorrow's finals.

Schimkus ran a personal best of 15:37.67, with a 29.44 final 200-meter split to win the 5k. Fifth-year John Balk, Jr. (Suffern, NY/Suffern) crossed eighth at 16:20.01.

The distance medley relay of fifth-year Jonthomas Bierman (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck), seniors Gabe Burns (Riverhead, NY/Riverhead) and Matt Hayden (Long Valley, NJ), and freshman Justin Berkowitz (East Meadow, NY/East Meadow) ran an AARTFC qualifying time of 10:36.73 to place first overall.

In the triple jump, junior Josh Jerome (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) took fourth at 13.83 meters, while freshman Ayobami Adebayo (Long Island, NY/Longwood) placed fifth at 13.51 meters. Sophomore Isaiah Slater (Brooklyn, NY/John F. Kennedy) took ninth at 13.04 meters. Junior Sawyer Eckberg (Maryland, NY/Laurens-Milford) grabbed fourth in the weight throw at 15.93 meters.

Senior Michael Carey (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) placed seventh in the pole vault at 3.65 meters.

Oneonta continues the SUNYAC Championships on Mar. 1, starting with the high jump at 10:30 a.m.