UTICA, N.Y.- The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's indoor track & field team posted a dominating performance at the Utica Winter Opener, racking up top finishes across sprints, distance, jumps, and throws in the squad's return from a four-week layoff.

Cortez Garrett led the way in the hurdles, winning the 60-meter hurdles in 8.48 seconds, while Chris Kay added a sixth-place finish in 8.86. In the 60-meter dash, Cameron Caso sprinted to the top spot with a time of 7.02 seconds, edging out teammate Alexander Flynn, who finished second in 7.16. Francis Grasso also cracked the top five with a fifth-place finish in 7.22.

RPI flexed its strength in the middle and long distances as well. Danny Gall won the 3000-meter run in 8:39.35 before taking second in the mile with a time of 4:15.93. He was joined in the mile's top finishers by Samuel Gunther (5th, 4:20.99) and Joey Smith (6th, 4:21.21). RPI placed four runners in the top eight in the 3000m, with Anthony Zarrella (4th, 8:47.50), Nick McAuley (5th, 8:52.21), and Evan Morrow (7th, 8:53.32) joining Gall in a dominant distance outing.

In the 800-meter run, Dominic Pena finished runner-up in 1:58.22, with Tevin McLaren placing sixth (2:00.80). The 400 meters saw Jace Lewis (4th, 52.35) and Walter Withrow (6th, 52.91) earn top spots. Ronen Stewart surged to second in 22.29 seconds in the 200m, followed closely by Flynn (3rd, 22.70), Grasso (6th, 22.98), and Garrett (8th, 23.20).

The relay units produced strong results, with the 4x200-meter relay team of Flynn, Jack Catelotti, Grasso, and Stewart taking home the victory in 1:31.60, and the 4x400-meter relay squad of Tyler Dinkins, Pena, Joe Nuzzo, and McLaren placed third in 3:38.33.

The Engineers claimed a sweep of the top two spots in both pole vault and high jump. Moss Dengler and Shawn Keenan tied for first in the pole vault, each clearing 4.60 meters, while Dillen Owusu followed in fifth (4.15m). In the high jump, Connor Cruz was the top finisher at 1.88 meters, with Calvin Chang second (1.78m) and Arthur Hrycak fifth (1.73m).

The horizontal jumps featured another deep RPI crew. Ervin Owusu placed third (6.49m), Oliver Herrick was fourth (6.48m), and Evan Boyd finished eighth (6.20m) in the long jump, while Herrick also led RPI in the triple jump, taking third with a mark of 13.36 meters. Jack Notaro (6th, 12.66m) and Caius Leung (7th, 12.22m) rounded out the event.

Paul Sussman placed fourth in the weight throw (14.85m) and seventh in the shot put (12.81m). Colby Grove (6th, 14.74m) joined Sussman in the weight throw and Javier Bedoya notched a fifth-place finish in the shot put (13.04m).

RPI is slated to compete again next Saturday at Middlebury College.