Men's Indoor Track and Field | 3/24/2026 2:59:40 PM
The Empire 8 Conference announced its 2025-26 Men’s Indoor Track & Field All-Conference awards on Tuesday, March 24. The awards are voted on by the league's head coaches.
Junior Ryan Hagan of SUNY Geneseo was named the 2025-26 Empire 8 Indoor Field Athlete of the Year., Hagan, a native of Liverpool, NY, was part of the distance medley relay team that won the national championship at the 2026 NCAA Division III Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championship, crossing the finish line in an Empire 8 record time of 9:24.65. He also earned national runner-up honors in the 3,000-meters with a time of 8:06.04 to earn First Team All-American honors. Hagan was named the 2026 Empire 8 Indoor Track Championship Field Athlete of the Meet after winning both the 800-meters and mile run. Hagan set a bevy of Empire 8 individual records in 2025-26 in the E8, including the 1,000-meters (2:27.34), mile (4:02.39), 3,000-meters (8:04.87) and 5,000-meters (14:12.33). Hagan was also a USTFCCCA All-Niagara Region selection in both the 800-meters, mile, 3,000- and 5,000-meters in addition to the distance medley relay.
Senior Gabriel Giannini of SUNY Brockport was named the 2025-26 Empire 8 Indoor Field Athlete of the Year. Giannini, a native of Rochester, NY, earned NCAA Second Team All-American honors in both the heptathlon (11th overall) and long jump (13th overall). Giannini, who won the heptathlon with an all-time Empire 8 record score of 5,126 at the All-Atlantic Region Championships, which at the time, was the second-best score in all of Division III this season. Giannini was the runner-up in both the long jump (7.33 meters) and pole vault (4.67 meters) at the Empire 8 Championship meet. His long jump performance broke the previous Empire 8 record and put him ninth in Division III this season.
Utica University first-year standout Wayne Spencer was named the 2025-26 Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field Rookie of the Year. Spencer, who hails from Rochester, NY, enjoyed a tremendous debut for the Pioneers, finishing second in the triple jump and third in the long jump at the Empire 8 Indoor Track and Field Championship meet. He was also sixth in the triple jump at the All-Atlantic Region Championship. Spencer, who had top leaps of 7.15 meters in the long jump and 14.22 meters in the triple jump also earned USTFCCCA All-Niagara Region honors in both events. He finished the season ranked 28th nationally in the long jump and 49th in the triple jump.
SUNY Geneseo head coach Chris Popovici and his staff of assistant coaches Dan Moore, Christian Johnson, Kieran Sheridan and Gwen Shepardson was named the 2025-26 Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year. The Knights won their second straight Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field Championship and placed seventh at the NCAA Championships. Overall, Geneseo had 17 different student-athletes earn All-Conference honors, while the relay team of Pierce Young, Arjun Ojha, Dawson Wadsworth and Ryan Hagan won the national title in the distance medley relay at nationals. Overall, nine different Knights earned 12 All-American honors. The Knights shattered four E8 Indoor Track and Field Championship records and eight overall league marks in 2025-26.
The Empire 8 first, second and third team all-conference selections were determined at the championship meet on Feb. 27-28 from the Golisano Training Center, hosted by Nazareth University.
One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2025-26 Men’s Indoor Track and Field Tomorrow’s Leaders Team. This team honors a student-athlete who has emerged as a leader not only on the field of play, but in the classroom and in the community. In addition, they “compete with honor and integrity” and have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportsmen.
“Developing character and integrity is a hallmark of the Empire 8,” said E8 Executive Director
Chuck Mitrano. “This series is proof that Empire 8 and our member institutions are committed to intercollegiate athletics’ important role in higher education.”
2025-26 Empire 8 Men’s Indoor Track & Field Award Winners
Track Athlete of the Year: Ryan Hagan, Jr., SUNY Geneseo
Field Athlete of the Year: Gabriel Giannini, Sr., SUNY Brockport
Rookie of the Year: Wayne Spencer, Fr., Utica
Coaching Staff of the Year: SUNY Geneseo, led by head coach Chris Popovici
Empire 8 Tomorrow’s Leaders Team
Seth Stevens, Fr., Alfred (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro)
Timothy Smith, Jr., SUNY Brockport (Vestal, NY/Vestal)
Andrew Kent, Sr., SUNY Geneseo (Cazenovia, NY/Cazenovia)
Marquis Jones-McKinney, Sr., Hartwick (Astoria, NY/Information Technology)
Ben Allen, Sr., Houghton (Elmira, NY/Elmira)
David Dobrowolski, Jr., Nazareth (Baldwinsville, NY/CW Baker)
Dylan Lawless, Sr., Russell Sage (Slingerlands, NY/Guilderland)
Landon Wertz, So., St. John Fisher (Marion, NY/Marion)
Nicholas Peccia, Sr., Utica (Lafayette, NJ/High Point Regional)
2025-26 Empire 8 Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championship All-Conference Selections
60-Meter Dash
First Team: Derek Grimshaw, Jr., SUNY Brockport – :6.85 (Championship Record)
Second Team: Cody Bazemore, So., Hartwick – :6.91
Third Team: Evan Thayer, Jr., SUNY Brockport – :7.00
60-Meter Hurdles
First Team: Trystan Biller, So., St. John Fisher – :8.23
Second Team: Jeremy Chen, Sr., SUNY Brockport – :8.37
Third Team: Michael Solomon, Fr., Houghton – :8.52
200-Meter Dash
First Team: Jack Towns, So., SUNY Geneseo – :22.22
Second Team: Cody Bazemore, So., Hartwick – :22.28
Third Team: Derek Grimshaw, Jr., SUNY Brockport – :22.32
400-Meter Dash
First Team: Jacob Miller, Sr., SUNY Geneseo – :48.41
Second Team: Sam Belmont, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – :48.80
Third Team: Arjun Ojha, So., SUNY Geneseo – :49.09
800-Meter Run
First Team: Ryan Hagan, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 1:52.00 (Championship Record; All-Time E8 Record)
Second Team: Timothy Smith, Jr., SUNY Brockport – 1:52.71
Third Team: Dawson Wadsworth, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 1:52.93
Mile
First Team: Ryan Hagan, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 4:08.04 (Championship Record)
Second Team: Pierce Young, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 4:08.93
Third Team: Owen Murphy, So., SUNY Geneseo – 4:14.72
3,000-Meters
First Team: Pierce Young, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 8:14.19 (Championship Record)
Second Team: Emerson Comer, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 8:20.83
Third Team: Bennett Melita, Jr., Utica – 8:28.39
5,000-Meters
First Team: Emerson Comer, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 15:06.17
Second Team: Collin Brown, So., SUNY Geneseo – 15:10.80
Third Team: Killian Bauer, Fr., Utica – 15:12.04
4 x 400-Meter Relay
First Team: Gian Carlo Di Fava, Jr., Jacob Miller, Sr., Arjun Ojha, So., Sam Belmont, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 3:15.26 (Championship Record)
Second Team: Michael Durski, Sr., Malakye Moss, Fr., Owen Arbocus., Jr., Ayden Grinion, Sr., SUNY Brockport – 3:20.32
Third Team: Nick Driver, Fr., Griffin Killian, Jr., Gavin McAllister, Sr., Michael Puglisi, Sr., Nazareth – 3:22.15
Distance Medley Relay
First Team: Tobias Jeralds, Sr., Cameron Hollis, So., Forest Martin, Jr., Bennett Melita, Jr., Utica –
10:22.03
Second Team: Logan Baker, So., Dawson Wadsworth., Jr., Owen Sweet, So., Mario Verruto, Fr., SUNY Geneseo – 10:31.29
Third Team: Jacob Taylor, Jr., Riley Ciamarra, Jr., Finnegan Dean, Sr., Seth Stevens, Fr., Alfred – 10:38.47
Pole Vault
First Team: Hayden Penna, Jr., St. John Fisher – 4.92 meters (Championship Record)
Second Team: Gabriel Giannini, Sr., SUNY Brockport – 4.67 meters
Third Team: Oren Welch, So., St. John Fisher – 4.57 meters
High Jump
First Team: Kaiden McCaskill, So., Utica – 1.96 meters
Second Team: Cardin Chau, So., SUNY Brockport– 1.90 meters
Third Team: Donovan Blackman, Fr., Alfred – 1.87 meters
Long Jump
First Team: Dennis Bobbitt, So., SUNY Brockport – 7.38 meters (Championship Record; All-Time E8 Record)
Second Team: Gabriel Giannini, Sr., SUNY Brockport – 7.33 meters
Third Team: Wayne Spencer, Fr., Utica – 7.15 meters
Triple Jump
First Team: Dennis Bobbitt, So., SUNY Brockport – 14.69 meters
Second Team: Wayne Spencer, Fr., Utica – 14.03 meters
Third Team: Chris Desiderio, So., SUNY Geneseo – 13.65 meters
Shot Put
First Team: Ray Trottier, Jr., SUNY Geneseo – 15.60 meters
Second Team: Graeden Heichberger, Fr., Nazareth – 15.28 meters
Third Team: Daniel Davis, So., St. John Fisher – 14.90 meters
Weight Throw
First Team: Brandon Kaplan, Sr., St, John Fisher – 19.14 meters (Championship Record)
Second Team: Graeden Heichberger, So., Nazareth – 18.66 meters
Third Team: David Dobrowolski, Jr., Nazareth – 18.57 meters
Heptathlon
First Team: Jack Pomykaj, Sr., Nazareth – 4,733 points (Championship Record)
Second Team: Will Hawken, Fr., SUNY Geneseo – 4,574 points
Third Team: Aaron Lund, Sr., Nazareth – 4,390 points