ITHACA, N.Y. – Sophomore Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) broke a 41-year old school record in the shot put as Cortland competed Saturday and Sunday at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational.
 
Brunache finished third out of 43 competitors, and was the top Division III finisher, in the shot put with a distance of 16.79 meters (55' 1"). He eclipsed the previous school indoor mark of 16.59 meters (54' 5.25") set by James Monaco in 1983. Brunache also placed second out of 40 athletes in the weight throw at 17.94 meters (58' 10.25"). As of Sunday afternoon, Brunache ranks eighth nationally in Division III in the shot put and 18th in the weight throw. Both of his efforts were AARTFC qualifiers.
 
Cortland claimed the top two spots in the 4x400-meter relay. Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian), Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech), Andrew O'Gorman (Melville/Half Hollow Hills East) and Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) won with an AARTFC time of 3:24.59 and Zion Cheatham (Lockport), Brandon Levin (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker), Josh Geschwind (Dix Hills/Commack) and Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) finished second in 3:29.63.
 
Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) finished second in the mile run with an AARTFC time of 4:18.28. In addition to Brunache, four other Red Dragons placed in the top seven of the weight throw. Nick Kaires (St. James/Smithtown East) finished third at 16.16 meters (53' 0.25") and Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) was fifth at 15.68 meters (51' 5.5"), both with AARTFC distances. Tommy Burek (Latham/Shaker) finished sixth (15.19 meters/49' 10") and Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) was seventh (14.26 meters/46' 9.5").
 
Jones and Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) each met the AARTFC standard in the 60-meter hurdles. Jones was fourth of 26 in 8.33 seconds (8.31 prelims) and Morse finished eighth in 8.61 seconds (8.39 prelims). Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) finished fifth of 30 in the 60-meter dash with an AARTFC time of 7.07 seconds and was fifth of 80 in the 200-meter dash in 22.73 seconds.
 
Logan Buchanan (Dundee) was the runner-up in the high jump at 1.87 meters (6' 1.5") and Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) finished seventh at 1.72 meters (5' 7.75"). Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) finished fourth of 34 in the long jump (6.45 meters/21' 2").
 
Cortland placed four in the top seven among 35 total competitors in the 400-meter dash. Knapp finished third (50.54), followed by Gavalas in fourth (50.55), Garafola in fifth (50.62) and O'Gorman in seventh (50.84). Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) and Brignall finished fifth (1:57.71) and sixth (1:58.33), respectively, out of 38 runners in the 800 meters.
 
Richard Mangogna (Kings Park) finished fifth in the pole vault (4.30 meters/14' 1.25"). Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) placed fifth in the triple jump (13.34 meters/43' 9.25") and Hayden Erick (Dundee) was eighth (12.97 meters/42' 6.75"). Nick LaRocque (Millbrook) turned in an eighth-place finish in the shot put (13.87 meters/45' 6.25").

Coach's Corner - Comments from Cortland Head Coach Steve Patrick:

Obviously two school records on the same day is super exciting! When you also include how great Autumn and Isaiah did in their second event (the 200 and the weight throw respectively), they were clearly our stars for the weekend.

Both the women's and men's team showed a lot of good depth in both the long sprints events today, as we saw a number of season bests or lifetime bests. The throws group continues to show a great deal of progress with big throws especially from Nick Kaires, Tommy Burek, and Suzy Conners in the weight, and Hannah McMasters in the shot put.

Our distance squad came through strong today with a lot of good efforts! We were focused on executing on some specific aspects of the race, and really achieved that quite nicely.

But the most progress probably came through with the triple jump, as season's bests were set by nearly every Red Dragon who competed today!

Next weekend is a big one for the program as we will compete at the Ocean Breeze Complex, at Boston University, and at Ithaca College again.