SHIPPENSBURG, PA. and PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team competed in its final regular-season meets, sending athletes to both the Shippensburg University Paul Kaiser Classic and the St. John Fisher University Cardinal Classic. The Red Dragons will host the SUNYAC Championships on Friday and Saturday, May 2-3.
 
Shippensburg Highlights:
 
Josh Jeffes (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville) earned a victory for Cortland in the 400-meter dash, placing first out of 50 competitors in 47.66 seconds. Evan Jensen (Red Hook) finished second in 48.25 seconds, followed by Zion Cheatham (Lockport) in third (48.45) and Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) in fourth (48.46). Jeffes also placed third of 91 in the 200-meter dash in 21.74 seconds and LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial) was ninth in 22.43 seconds.
 
The 4x100-meter relay team of Richardson, Gavalas, Cheatham and Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) finished second in 40.97 seconds, which ranks 20th nationally in Division III. Schaffert also finished fourth of 87 in the 100-meter dash in 10.63 seconds (10.62 prelims).
 
Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) finished fifth of 61 in the 1,500 meters (4:01.44) and Declan Kennedy (Lakewood/Southwestern) placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles (56.84). Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) was sixth of 92 in the 800 meters (1:56.59), while Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) placed eighth of 40 in the long jump (6.65 meters/21' 10") and ninth of 34 in the 110-meter hurdles (15.51).
 
Mitch Diamond (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) and Taoig Cypher (Irvington) each turned in top-20 finishes in two events. Cypher was 12th in the triple jump (12.56 meters/41' 2.5") and 16th in the high jump (1.80 meters/5' 10.75") and Diamond finished 16th in the 100-meter dash (11.05) and 19th in the long jump (6.15 meters/20' 2.25").
 
Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) placed 11th in the 400-meter dash (50.10), Travis Iwuagwu (Suffern) was 13th in the 110-meter hurdles (15.65) and Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) tied for 14th in the high jump (1.80 meters/5' 10.75"). Evan Cruz (Pearl River) finished 16th in the 110-meter hurdles (16.02) and Carter Naginey (Groton) was 18th in the 800 meters (1:59.12).
 
Cortland's All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers at the meet included the 4x100-meter relay team, Jeffes (400 meters and 200 meters), Jensen (400 meters), Cheatham (400 meters), Gavalas (400 meters), Schaffert (100 meters) and Zanger (110-meter hurdles). 
 
St. John Fisher Highlights:
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) turned in two winning performances, beating 41 other competitors in both the shot put (17.24 meters/56' 6.75") and the discus (47.59 meters/156' 1"). Brunache was also eighth of 43 in the hammer throw at 50.27 meters (164' 11"). He reached AARTFC qualifying marks in all three events.
 
Jason Zaita (Selden/Centereach) finished ninth in both the shot put (13.57 meters/44' 6.25") and the discus (40.12 meters/131' 7"). Travis Firkins (Hilton) placed 10th in the hammer (48.45 meters/158' 11") and Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) finished 12th in the discus (38.41 meters/126' 0") and 19th in the hammer (45.63 meters/149' 8"). Other top field performances included Logan Darling (Homer) in the hammer (17th place, 45.97 meters/150' 10"), Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post) in the shot put (20th place, 12.36 meters/40' 6.75") and Sean Keane (Riverhead) in the hammer (20th place, 45.45 meters/149' 1").
 
John Anderson (Ithaca) finished 11th of 23 in the 110-meter hurdles (16.99). Jackson Bianca (West Islip) placed 13th in the event at 17.75 seconds. Marcello Mastrocco (West Islip) finished 16th of 87 in the 100-meter dash (11.28) and 16th of 64 in the 200-meter dash (22.62).

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

Once again, we're pretty fortunate to be able to travel to different locations. Unfortunately we didn't get full cooperation from the weather, but that's OK.
 
Starting with the squad that competed at St. John Fisher, the biggest takeaway is what we need to do to be successful when the conditions aren't ideal. Some folks did a wonderful job with how they handled the adversity, and that will really serve them well as they get to continue to compete this semester. In particular, it looks like Aidan Aguirre, Isaiah Brunache, Travis Firkings, Marcello Mastrocco, and Jason Zaita were pretty strong on the men's side, with Gabby Collins, Amelia Konstanty, and Caitlin Maher leading the way with focus on determination on the women's side. It's going to be really challenging to set season or lifetime bests when it's cold and rainy, but how these folks went about their day seems to be pretty strong!
 
With Shippensburg we had much more ideal conditions, although we went through some rain, and then some very uncooperative winds later in the day that made a lot of good efforts over 200 meters look less than ideal. Travis Iwuagwu opened us up early with a nice PR in the high hurdles; both the men's and women's 4x100s performed well to run season's best. The handoffs still need some tuning-up, and that's OK. Matthew Schaffert moving up the national list and the Cortland All-Time list with the wind-legal 10.63 in the finals was great to see, as was Autumn Pittman taking the win in the women's 100! Zion Cheatham and Harrison Gavalas came back off the 4x100 to run new PRs in the 400; a lot of our mid-distance group did exceptionally well, with new 1500 PRs from Matthew Mullen, Melissa Innocent, Jewel Jones, Deirdre Sullivan, and Alexa Wolcott! The ladies all returned in the open 800 where they all ran collegiate bests as well!
 
The SUNYAC Championships are this upcoming weekend, and we are fortunate to be hosting them this year. The conference meet is always an exciting weekend, and it's really enjoyable to be in a team competition as that happens so infrequently in collegiate track and field.