WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. and PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Evan Jensen (Red Hook) set a school record in the 400-meter dash and Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) eclipsed his own school and conference record in the shot put as Cortland sent competitors to both the Williams College Farley Inter-Regional (F.I.R.E.) and St. John Fisher University Last Chance meets on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Williams Highlights:
 
Jensen finished first out of 37 competitors in the 400 meters in 47.06 seconds, which currently ranks 10th nationally. Josh Jeffes (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville) finished second in 47.63 seconds. Jeffes currently ranks 12th nationally with a previous best time of 47.13 seconds that was the school record before Jensen's performance.
 
The 4x100-meter relay team of LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial), Harrison Gavalas (Southampton), Zion Cheatham (Lockport) and Matthew Schaffert (Lockport) finished second in 41.62 seconds. Schaffert was also sixth in the 100-meter dash in 10.93 seconds (10.82 prelims) and Cheatham finished ninth in the 200-meter dash in 22.12 seconds.
 
Roland Zanger (Port Jervis) placed second in the long jump (6.92 meters/22' 8.5") and 10th in the 110-meter hurdles (15.35). Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) finished second in the triple jump (14.57 meters/47' 9.75") and Matthew Mullen (Medford/William Floyd) finished 26th of 66 in the 1,500 meters (3:58.93).
 
St. John Fisher Highlights:
 
Brunache won the shot put with a distance of 17.81 meters (58' 5.25"), breaking his own school and SUNYAC mark of 17.77 meters. He ranks fifth nationally in Division III in the event. Brunache also won the discus at 50.76 meters (166' 6") and was seventh in the hammer throw (50.70 meters/166' 4").
 
Nick Kaires (St. James/Smithtown East) placed second in the discus (47.42 meters/155' 7") and third in the hammer (54.57 meters/179' 0"). Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) was the team's top hammer throw performer in second place at 56.91 meters (186' 8").
 
Ryan Joule (Staten Island/Susan E. Wagner) finished third in the javelin at 51.98 meters (170' 6"). Sean Keane (Riverhead) was seventh in the shot put (12.78 meters/41/ 11.25") and Travis Firkins finished 13th in the hammer (45.72 meters/150' 0").
 
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Cortland athletes who met All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifying marks over the weekend were Jensen (400), Jeffes (400), 4x100-meter relay, Zanger (long jump and 110-meter hurdles), Hughes (triple jump), Schaffert (100), Mullen (1,500), Brunache (shot put, discus, hammer), Kaires (discus, hammer), Collette (hammer) and Joule (javelin).

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Coach's Corner - Comments from Cortland Head Coach Steve Patrick:
 
It was great to have the opportunity to get out to Williams College for their Farley Inter-Regional Extravaganza meet, and we even got lucky with the weather later in the day. With this time of year, we're obviously battling not only the effects of a long season, but also the stresses of classes coming to an end, and final projects/papers/exams looming in front of us. This alone makes our roster much smaller at this time of year.
 
We certainly had some notable highlights besides Evan's new school record: AnJalyna Talmadge had a nice series in the finals for shot put, Amarian Hughes and our men's 4x100 got some critical aspects addressed over the course of the day, Alexia Prince set a new PR in the 200 just outside of our all-time top 5 list, and Roland Zanger had his best series of long jumping ever – including two new personal best marks!
 
At St. John Fisher, we really were fortunate with a great day to throw! Obviously Isaiah took advantage of the day with his new personal, school, and conference record in the shot put, but a lot of credit goes to Ryan Joule who battled through some injuries to set his lifetime best and earn a trip to the AARTFC meet. Overall it was a good day with some learning about how to throw better, which is always a positive for us!
 
We're looking forward to being back at Williams this week for the AARTFC Championships, focused on preparing for the NCAA Championships at the end of the month.