ITHACA, N.Y- The Cortland men's indoor track and field team finished third out of 54 schools at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championships. The event was hosted by Ithaca College on Friday and Saturday.
 
Cortland scored 57 points, a half point ahead of fourth-place Rochester (56.5). Rowan won the team title with 94 points and Geneseo was second with 70 points.
 
Cortland earned three event victories at the meet, highlighted by a school-record performance from the 4x200-meter relay team of Evan Jensen (Red Hook), Zion Cheatham (Lockport), Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) and Josh Jeffes (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville). Their time of 1:27.00 broke their own school and facility mark of 1:27.37 that was set at a meet at Ithaca in early February.
 
Jensen won the 400-meter dash with a facility record time of 48.65 seconds. Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) was the weight throw champion with a distance of 19.04 meters (62' 5.75") and he finished third in the shot put at 16.69 meters (54' 9.25").
 
Jeffes finished third in the 200-meter dash (21.83), Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) was third in the weight throw (17.32 meters/56' 10") and Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) placed third in the 60-meter dash (6.97). Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) finished sixth in the triple jump (13.92 meters/45' 8")
 
The top eight finishers in each individual event and the top three in each relay earn All-AARTFC honors.
 
Two Red Dragons posted ninth-place showings - Cheatham in the 200-meter dash (22.19) and LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial) in the 60-meter dash (6.98). Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) was 10th in the weight throw (15.87 meters/52' 0.75") and Gavalas finished 13th in the 400-meter dash (49.75).
 
Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) earned a 16th-place finish in the long jump (6.45 meters/21' 2") and a 27th-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles (8.63). Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) was 25th (12.91 meters/42' 4.25") and Hayden Erick (Dundee) was 29th (12.63 meters/42' 5.25") in the triple jump, and Nick Schaffer (Pompton Lakes, NJ) placed 33rd in the 400-meter dash (51.65). Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) competed in the high jump.
 
Cortland awaits the announcement of qualifiers for next weekend's NCAA Division III Championships, which be held March 14-15 at Nazareth University in Rochester. The final participant list will be posted on NCAA.com this Sunday, March 9, by 7 p.m. The top 20 in each individual event and the top 12 in each relay (4x400 and DMR) qualify for nationals. As of Saturday night, Cortland athletes ranking in the national qualifying spots are:
 
Amarian Hughes, 2nd, Triple Jump
Isaiah Brunache, 3rd, Shot Put and tied 8th, Weight Throw
4x400-meter relay (Evan Jensen, Zion Cheatham, Harrison Gavalas, Josh Jeffes), 6th
Josh Jeffes, 4th, 400-meter dash and tied 15th, 200-meter dash
Evan Jensen, tied 11th, 400-meter dash

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

This meet is always a bit of a strange one – coming off the conference championships, we won't compete everybody that has qualified as the outdoor season is fast approaching. For those that do compete there is the combination of a letdown post-conference, along with a high level of perceived pressure to really "do something special," especially if you are younger in your career. Sometimes this leads to some pretty strange results!
 
Melissa Innocent's mile was probably the highlight for the women's team – after setting the pace in both races last weekend, we were hoping that she would be able to connect to a fast pace in her heat. Unfortunately, the field didn't want to go after running fast – but Melissa ran the second fastest mile of her life by a large margin, and made good racing decisions, but also recognized some minor errors that she can improve on. That's great progress!
 
Alexia Prince and Lily Swyers returned from big lifetime PRs last weekend to strong performances this weekend in the 200 and the high hurdles, both running times that would have been lifetime bests just 8 days ago. Overall, we're generally pleased with how folks competed through the weekend.
 
For the men, getting a new school record for the 9th week in a row is something pretty remarkable – and that relay time is one of the fastest ever at the Division III level, especially considering it was run on a flat track as opposed to a banked track. Zion Cheatham had a great day overall, with a big PR in the 200 indoors, nearly matching his lifetime best from outdoors!
 
Both Matt Schaffert and LeBron Richardson raced well in the 60, breaking 7 seconds in the trials. Matt earned a spot back to Saturday's finals, and capitalized to take 3rd overall in the meet. The three guys in the open 400 were really good about getting out how they needed to, which was great to see!
 
Mitch Diamond finished off indoors with a solid effort in triple jump; the men's weight throw group of Isaiah Brunache, Evan Collette, and Luke Chamberlain did quite well – Luke had a lifetime best, Evan was consistently launching the ball today over 17 meters, and Isaiah responded really well to hit his second-best throw ever on his final attempt.
 
We're looking forward for the opportunity to represent Cortland at next weekend's NCAA Championships at Nazareth in Rochester, NY – being able to have very limited travel over the past couple of weeks has been a wonderful change for us!