LEWISBURG, PA. and UTICA, N.Y. – Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) broke his own school record in the shot put and set two facility records at the Utica Pioneer Spring Invitational men's outdoor track and field meet on Sunday. Cortland also sent competitors Saturday and Sunday to the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic.
 
Utica Highlights:
 
Brunache won the shot put with a school-record toss of 17.60 meters (57' 9"), eclipsing his previous record of 17.02 meters from the 2023 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. The mark was a Utica facility record and ranks third nationally in Division III. Brunache also won the discus with a facility-record throw of 47.80 meters (156' 10") and he was sixth in the hammer throw at 49.25 meters (161' 7").
 
Lassad Richards (Wheatley Heights/Half Hollow Hills West) won the 200-meter dash in 22.50 seconds and was third in the 400-meter dash in 51.36 seconds. Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) was the triple jump winner (13.47 meters/44' 2.5") and finished seventh in the long jump (6.12 meters/20' 1"), while Paul Tommolino (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) was the winner in the 10,000-meter run (35:01.47).
 
Ramel Radcliff (Syracuse/Henninger) was one of five other top-seven finishers in the discus, along with Brunache, with a second-place distance of 44.81 meters (147' 0"). Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post) finished third (38.55 meters/126' 5"), Jason Zaita (Selden/Centereach) was fourth (38.39 meters/125' 11"), John Genova (Huntington) finished sixth (37.14 meters/121' 10") and Logan Darling (Homer) placed seventh (36.95 meters/121' 2").
 
Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) finished second in the hammer throw at 53.68 meters (176' 1"), with Nick Kaires (St. James/Smithtown East) fourth (51.51 meters/169' 0"), Darling seventh (48.81 meters/160' 1") and Travis Firkins (Hilton) eighth (47.52 meters/155' 11"). In the shot put, Collette placed fifth (13.33 meters/43' 8.75"), Sean Keane (Riverhead) was seventh (12.89 meters/42' 3.5") and Zaita finished eighth (12.67 meters/41' 7").
 
Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) was the runner-up in the 400-meter dash (51.26) and Christian Wissa (Somers) placed second in the 10,000 meters (35:22.87). Carter Naginey (Groton) was third (2:00.52) and Mike Alvarez (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) finished eighth (2:02.55) in the 800 meters. In the high jump, Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) finished third with a height of 1.84 meters (6' 0.5") and Taoig Cypher (Irvington) was fourth at 1.79 meters (5' 10.5"). Cypher also finished eighth in the javelin (33.77 meters/110' 9").
 
Matthew Breslin (Islip) finished third in the pole vault (4.00 meters/13' 1.5") and John Anderson (Ithaca) tied for fourth (3.85 meters/12' 7.5"). Evan Cruz (Pearl River) was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (16.05) and eighth in the 200-meter dash (23.74). Gavin Franco (East Islip) finished fourth in the long jump (6.34 meters/20' 9.75") and fifth in the triple jump (12.78 meters/41' 11.25"). Hayden Erick (Dundee) also covered 12.78 meters (41' 11.25") in the triple jump and was officially sixth due to his second-best distance compared to Franco's. Anderson placed eighth in the long jump (6.11 meters/20' 0.5").
 
Cortland's All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers at the meet were: Brunache (shot put, discus, hammer), Radcliff (discus), Collette (hammer) and Kaires (hammer).
 
Bucknell Highlights:
 
The 4x400-meter relay of Evan Jensen (Red Hook), Zion Cheatham (Lockport), Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) and Josh Jeffes (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville) finished first in 3:13.68, while Jeffes was second out of 105 runners in the 400-meter dash in 47.93 seconds. Jensen placed 10th in the 400 meters (48.92), Gavalas was 20th (49.35) and Cheatham finished 29th (49.82).
 
The 4x100-meter relay unit of LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial), Gavalas, Cheatham and Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) finished seventh in 41.85 seconds. Schaffert was eighth (10.66) and Richardson finished 17th (10.79) in the 100-meter dash, and Schaffert was 36th of 109 (22.10) and Richardson finished 44th (22.19) in the 200-meter dash.
 
Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) won the triple jump in a field of 46 competitors at 15.13 meters (49' 7.75"), which ranks third nationally in Division III. Hughes also finished sixth of 42 in the long jump (6.71 meters/22' 0.25"). Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) was 10th in the long jump (6.60 meters/21' 8") and Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) finished 20th in the triple jump (13.37 meters/43' 10.5"). Zanger was 24th in the 110-meter hurdles (15.28).
 
Robert Davidson (Setauket/Ward Melville) was fifth of 38 in the 5,000 meters (15:07.04), with Brandon Mulholland (Syracuse/Westhill) 12th in the event (15:12.75). Brandon Root (Merrick/John F. Kennedy) was 14th in the 400-meter hurdles (54.86), Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) placed 40th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:39.51) and Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) was 49th of 141 in the 800 meters (1:55.87).
 
Cortland's AARTFC qualifiers at the meet were: 4x400-meter relay, 4x100-meter relay, Hughes (triple jump), Jeffes (400 meters), Jensen (400 meters), Davidson (5,000 meters), Schaffert (100 meters), Richardson (100 meters), Root (400-meter hurdles), Zanger (110-meter hurdles), Mullen (3,000-meter steeplechase) and Wingert (800 meters).

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

We're really fortunate to have the support to be able to split up the team on weekends like this. If we were limited to only one of these meets, it would definitely limit our development as a program.

Bucknell had a number of really strong performances! From Saturday, I'm quite pleased with the steps all three of our long jumpers (Lillian Swyers, Amarian Hughes, and Roland Zanger) took even though we didn't quite have the distances we wanted. Jordan Wingert ran an excellent 800, while Jewel Jones and Deirdre Sullivan ran their first steeplechase of the season in a very strong fashion. Our two guys in the 5k did great; Brandon Mulholland in particular excelled; he took over the lead at 3k and kept the pace honest for the field. While he couldn't quite break away, that was a strong move to make and he still finished with his fastest 1k of the race!

On Sunday at Bucknell, the performances of note that strongly stood out would be Amarian Hughes in the triple jump, Swyers in the high hurdles, Matthew Schaffert and LeBron Richardson in the 100 - where Matt now enters the all-time top 5 for Cortland, and Autumn Pittman in the 200. Both of the men's relays put together good efforts, but unfortunately the conditions weren't very ideal for either to perform at a very high level.

One of the biggest values of the Bucknell meet is for folks to have the experience of competing in a high-caliber, stressful environment. While we didn't always overcome that challenge, we did more often then not and it is a very good learning experience for all.

With Utica, I'd like to commend the student -athletes we had goi v there just for their flexibility at being able to adjust late in the week. Last-minute changes (even when it was much better weather today) to the schedule can be a huge stressor.

From a perusal of the results, obviously the throws squad put up some big performances, led by Isaiah Brunache and Hannah McMasters! Ramel Radcliff had a strong discus, and we saw some great progress from Kayla Tretola, Jess Neubert, and Hannah McMasters, particularly in the hammer throw.

We saw some solid results in the jumps, especially from AnJalyna Talmadge and Grace Reed in the long jump, Brady Melious in the triple jump, and Gavin Franco on both long and triple!

Abby Hardy ran a tremendous 400 today, which was great to see after a year that has been plagued with injury; Yasmine Peralta had a very strong day in the 200, as did Lassad Richards.

But in many ways the first track event of the day may have been the most successful, as our women's distance squad went out and rolled to some nice performances in the 10k. Our goal was to use the day as a workout for some, with the hope that we could pull some other team members to a performance that would qualify them for the SUNYAC Championships. I was very impressed by how well this group (Anne Barney, Julia Benton, Jade Hornick, Rowan Leddy, Bri Ostheller, and Phoebe Peer) worked together and committed to the race to go far beyond that goal!

We're excited to return home for the Cortland Classic this upcoming Friday and Saturday!