SHIPPENSBURG, PA. and ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team competed at both the Shippensburg Paul Kaiser Classic on Saturday and at the Cornell Big Red Invitational on Sunday.
 
Shippensburg Highlights:
 
Cortland's performances at Shippensburg were highlighted by six AARTFC qualifiers. Two of those came in the 400-meter dash as Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) finished second in 49.22 seconds and Doug Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) was fourth in 49.34 seconds. Two others occurred in the 800 meters with Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West) placing fifth in 1:55.21 and Cameron Szabo (Owego/Owego Free Academy) finishing eighth in 1:55.80.
 
Also meeting AARTFC marks at the meet were Hunter Brignall (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) with his third-place time of 3:58.98 in the 1,500 meters and Austin Garske (Rocky Point) with his fourth-place time of 55.62 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles.
 
Zion Cheatham (Lockport) finished sixth in the 400 meters (50.14), followed by Brandon Levin (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) in seventh (50.18) and Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) in eighth (50.50). Levin finished sixth (22.45) and Cheatham was seventh (22.59) in the 200-meter dash. Hayden Erick (Dundee) placed fifth in the triple jump (12.75 meters/41' 10") and Adam Beach (Red Hook) was seventh in the 1,500 meters (4:02.92).
 
Cornell Highlights:
 
Cortland recorded seven AARTFC marks at Cornell, six in field events. In the shot put, Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) finished second (15.29 meters/50' 2") and Tommy Burek (Latham/Shaker) finished fourth (14.50 meters/47' 7"). In the hammer, Mitchell Makowski (Webster/Webster Thomas) placed second at 55.12 meters (180' 10") and Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) was third at 54.50 meters (178' 10").
 
The Red Dragons' other AARTFC performances came from Nick Kaires (St. James/Smithtown East), who finished second in the discus (46.73 meters/153' 3"), Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro), who was runner-up in the triple jump (14.36 meters/47' 1.5"), and Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech), who was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (14.93, 14.64 in prelims).
 
Hughes finished third in the javelin at 43.22 meters (141' 9"). Brunache finished fourth in the discus (43.34 meters/142' 2") and Nick LaRocque (Millbrook) was fifth in both the discus (40.93 meters/134' 3") and the shot put (14.45 meters/47' 5"). Kevin Andreski (Guilderland) placed fifth in both the triple jump (12.56 meters/41' 2.5") and the long jump (6.21 meters/20' 4.5"), and Burek was fifth in the hammer (48.18 meters/158' 1").

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

This was a long and exciting weekend for the track and field program!
 
The Paul Kaiser Classic at Shippensburg on Saturday is normally a great chance to run fast – good weather, fast track, and good competition. Well, two out of three ain't bad! Mother Nature wasn't at her kindest, but we certainly had people take advantage of the opportunity anyways. Our high jump crew was very mentally tough to jump under less than ideal conditions – for the men, it was steady rain and not even 50 degrees, yet both Roland Zanger and Logan Buchanan showed a lot of poise and toughness; while the rain had stopped for the ladies it was still cold and wet, yet both Regan Kaiser and Reilly Quinn jumped well and more importantly competed tough!
 
Aidan Garafola had a great day to PR in the 400, and while the times didn't show it, I thought that both Gianna Motto and Zion Chetham ran exceptional 200-meter races today. Being able to perform in those less-than-ideal conditions is valuable as we move into championship season! I'll also commend Austin Garske on running his best 400-hurdle race of the season in terms of managing his step pattern and staying smooth. That's a huge accomplishment heading into the SUNYAC meet this weekend!
 
Our mid-distance folks had quite a day! In the men's 800 5 guys ran a season's best; Hector Ramos probably wins the gold star for the best run; 10 of our folks set season's bests in the 1500; for this event the highlight has to be Alexa Wolcott and Melissa Innocent who were so far out in front of their heat running only against each other that they lapped some competitors, both powering home to big PRs of 4:55!
 
Cornell's meet on Sunday was certainly quite a bit warmer for the first half of the meet, and a large number of folks took advantage of the opportunity! Combined-event athletes John Anderson, Danielle Fisk, and AnJalyna Talmadge all had a range of good performances across a slew of events as we prepare for this weekend's combined event. Kevin Andreski jumped himself into the SUNYAC meet with a big PR in the triple jump, and Faith Hoyt moved up in the rankings in the pole vault with her new PR. It was great to see both sophomores come through with big performances.
 
In the throws, there were a lot of strong highlights. Jennifer Ndukwu posted a new PR in the hammer throw, moving up a spot in the all-time performance list. Tommy Burek (shot put and hammer throw) and Cabe Hogue (shot put and discus throw) both had double season's bests, leading a strong contingent of Red Dragon throwers to new season or personal records!
 
As with Saturday, we saw some exceptional results in the middle-distances. Deirdre Sullivan ran a solo effort to break the 12-minute mark in the steeplechase following as gnarly fall on a barrier early in the race. Getting up and continuing was impressive; setting a new PR was downright stellar. Mia Hannan and Sophie Marra both set new PRs in the 1500 by over 10 seconds for the 2nd meet in a row. If you are decent at math, you know that both of these ladies have now set new personal bests by over 20 seconds in the past week. That was outstanding to see!
 
This week – our final week of classes for the semester – is pretty low-key in terms of training as we prepare for the upcoming conference championships!