ITHACA, N.Y. – Josh Jeffes (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville) broke the school record in the 500-meter dash and anchored Cortland's 4x400-meter relay team that posted an NCAA Division III season best during a quad meet hosted by Ithaca College.
 
Cortland finished in second place in the final team standings. TCNJ won the title with 74 points, followed by Cortland (47), Oneonta (23) and Ithaca (20). First place finishes earned five points, followed by three points for second, two points for third, and one point for fourth (except for relays, where only the top three places scored and schools were limited to one scoring team).
 
Jeffes won the 500 meters in 1:04.14, breaking the previous school mark of 1:04.28 set by Gino Bisceglia in January 2010. The mark is also an Ithaca facility record.
 
The 4x400-meter relay unit of Evan Jensen (Red Hook), Zion Cheatham (Lockport), Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) and Jeffes won in 3:16.59, which currently ranks first nationally in Division III as well as being a facility record and All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifier.
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) won two events, both with AARTFC marks. He recorded a shot put of 16.67 meters (54' 8.25") that currently ranks second nationally and a weight throw of 16.12 meters (52' 10.75"). Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) won the long jump with an AARTFC mark of 6.87 meters (22' 6.5"). Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) placed second in the weight throw (16.12 meters/52' 10.75") and Evan Jensen (Red Hook) was second in the 500-meter dash (1:05.11).
 
Other Red Dragon top-four finishers included:
 
3rd place:

Kevin Andreski (Guilderland), Triple Jump, 13.01 meters (42' 8.25")
Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen), High Jump, 1.84 meters (6' 0.5")
Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point), 500-meter dash, 1:06.44
Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd), 800 meters, 1:59.61
LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial), 60-meter dash, 7.05
Matthew Schaffert (Lockport), 200-meter dash, 22.81
 
4th place:
 
Daniel Cruz (Bronx/Saint Raymond for Boys), 60-meter dash, 7.08
Gavalas, 500m dash, 1:07.30
Taoig Cypher (Irvington), High Jump, 1.79 meters (5' 10.5")
Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills), Weight Throw, 14.92 meters (48' 11.5")

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

It's nice to be back in action, especially after some hard training sessions back in Cortland! The folks that have been back early for training have been doing an excellent job not just with efforts in practice, but on the details in general. There's a lot for us to be proud of!
 
This first meet is always a significant challenge, especially as we usually enter it feeling a bit tired and flat. The benefits from the hard work don't tend to show up physically until there has been some time to rest and recover, so we aren't always feeling at our 'peak' this time of year.
 
Some notable highlights on the women's side would be Izzie Bosko running solid races in both the open 400 and as our leadoff for the 4x400 relay, Melissa Innocent returning to action in the mile, and Lilly Swyers and AnJalyna Talmadge in both the long jump and the high hurdles. Faith Hoyt had a wonderful start to 2025 in the pole vault, building a great foundation for the upcoming meets. Across the day, we didn't have many instances where we were disappointed with the effort or focus – things we can control – even if all the pieces for performance weren't in place yet.
 
For the men, Roland Zanger had a very strong day in both the hurdles and in his first long jump competition of the year. Matt Mullen had a great opener in the 800 to set a new personal best, while Cabe Hogue and Luke Chamberlain had big PRs in the shot put and weight throw respectively. Daniel Cruz followed up a strong performance in the 60 with a big PR in the 200, and Andrew Farnsworth made big progress in the men's high jump.
 
But it's hard to ignore what the men's long sprints group did today. In the 500, we saw a new school record (Josh Jeffes), a new all-time #3 (Evan Jensen), and a performance that was faster than the school record when I started coaching here (Aidan Garafola). It's nice to see things like that happening! Evan and Josh were joined by Zion Cheatham and Harrison Gavalas to run quite a strong 4 x 400 relay, earning the #3 all-time spot at Cortland.
 
Some additional folks return to Cortland this week for training before classes resume on the 27th; we are looking forward to getting to Nazareth in Rochester this upcoming weekend to compete and the Conference Cup at the site of the 2025 NCAA Championships.