ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University men's track & field team finished eighth during the 2026 Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday.
 
The Saxons defeated Russell Sage College during the two-day event. The distance medley relay and high jump events earned the Saxons the most points while the 4x400-meter relay and shot put events earned the second most. The 400-meter dash and heptathlon earned the third most points.
 
Five Saxons earned All-Empire 8 Third Team honors by taking third place in their respective events. The DMR team of Jacob Taylor (Cohocton, NY/Avoca), Riley Ciamarra (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas), Finnegan Dean (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam Central) and Seth Stevens (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) combined for a time of 10:38.47 to take third on Friday evening, earning the first round of bronze medals. Donovan Blackman (Bowie, MD/Sandy Springs Friends) gathered the fifth and final bronze medal for AU when he cleared 1.87m (6'-1.5") in Saturday's high jump and is now listed as No. 9 in AU's indoor history for his clearance. Sekou Camara (Conakry, Guinea/ICSA) was one foul short of finding a spot on the podium on Saturday in the high jump as well as he tied for ninth place.
 
Daimel Fowler (Baldwinsville, NY/CW Baker) was the first Saxon to earn a podium spot during the two-day championships. He joined the 14-meter club when, on his third attempt during the first round of throws, he reached 14.31m (46'-11.5") and joined the Top-10 indoor throws of all time, passing Jason Osborne's throw of 14.24m (46'-8.75") in 2012. The 4x400-meter relay team of Jonathan Hodges (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore West), Zach Schultz (Middleport, NY/Royalton-Hartland), Ciamarra and Dean combined for a time of 3:26.89 to post the second-fasted time in school history, just shy of the 2010 record of 3:25.22, held by Lee Consolo '10, Matthew Phillips '10, Jeremy Weaver '13 and Richard Scott '12.
 
Hodges, on Friday, kept closing in on the school record time in the 400-meter dash as he ran a 49.67, shy of Scott's record of 49.20. Hodges finished seventh in the event on Friday. David Winchenbach (Jefferson, ME/Lincoln Academy) was the final scorer for the Saxons as he posted a score of 3,935 points in the heptathlon between the two days for seventh place. He is now No. 8 all-time in Alfred University history as he passed Mykel Ferguson '15 and his score of 3,864 points. Winchenbach's highest-scoring event was the 60-meter hurdles as he posted a time of 8.88 for 772 points.
 
The majority of the Saxon members will next look towards the outdoor portion of the school year.