COLLEGEVILLE, PA. - The Cortland men's outdoor track and field team, fueled by three individual champions, finished in second place out of 64 schools at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Championships Wednesday and Thursday at Ursinus College. Cortland was the meet runner-up for the second straight year.
 
Rowan won the team title with 108 points, followed by Cortland with 58 points and TCNJ with 50 points. Geneseo (49) and Rochester (47.5) rounded out the top five.
 
Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) was named the Most Outstanding Men's Athlete of the Meet after scoring 21 team points over three events. He won the discus in a field of 21 competitors with a toss of 51.65 meters (169' 5"), finished second of 21 in the shot put at 17.28 meters (56' 8.5"), and was sixth of 28 in the hammer throw at 54.81 meters (179' 10").
 
Kyler Alston (Latham/Shaker) finished first out of 25 competitors in the 400-meter hurdles in 52.84 seconds, and Manuel Sepulveda (East Rochester) launched himself into the top 10 of the national rankings with his winning triple jump of 15.08 meters (49' 5.75") in a field of 29 athletes.
 
Elliott Supley (Peru) finished third in the shot put at 16.63 meters at 16.63 meters (54' 6.75"), and the 4x400-meter relay team of Daniel Kahler (Centereach), Zion Cheatham (Lockport), Daaron Harrell (Albany) and Alston placed third out of 19 in 3:12.35. John Anderson (Ithaca) finished eighth in the decathlon with 5,733 points. His score included 766 points with his third-place time of 15.71 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles and 757 points with his fifth-place 100-meter dash time of 11.48 seconds.
 
The top eight individual finishers and the top three relays earned All-AARTFC honors.
 
Cortland also picked up team points with a fifth-place showing out of 18 schools in the 4x800-meter relay. Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill), Kyle Friedel (Irondequoit), Carter Naginey (Groton) and Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West) finished the event in 7:56.09.
 
Bisbee narrowly missed All-AARTFC honors in the 800 meters, finishing ninth of 27 in 1:55.25. Naginey finished 16th in 1:57.01. Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) also missed the top-eight by one spot in the high jump, tying for ninth place out of 24 competitors with a height of 1.92 meters (6' 3.5").
 
Supley finished 11th in the discus at 43.37 meters (142' 3") and Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) finished 18th (40.82 meters/133' 11"). Chamberlain also was 15th in the shot put (14.31 meters/46' 11.5")
 
Kahler was 12th of 29 in the 400-meter dash (49.23), and in the 200-meter dash Harrell finished 15th (21.94) and Cheatham was 17th (22.03). Cabe Hogue (Corning/Corning Painted Post) finished 20th in the hammer throw (48.46 meters/159' 0"), LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial) finished 25th in the long jump (6.44 meters/21' 1.5") and 30th in the 100-meter dash (11.08), and Tommy Martin (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) finished 26th in the javelin (46.68 meters/153' 2").
 
Cortland awaits the announcement of qualifiers for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, which will be held in La Crosse, Wis., May 21-23. The final participant list will be posted on NCAA.com on Friday, May 15 by 8 p.m. Eastern. The top 22 declared individuals in each event and the top 16 declared relay teams in each relay (4x100 and 4x400) qualify for nationals. As of Thursday evening, Cortland athletes ranking in the national qualifying spots are:
 
Manuel Sepulveda, 7th, Triple Jump
Evan Collette, 9th, Hammer Throw
Kyler Alston, tied 11th, 400-meter hurdles
Isaiah Brunache, 14th, Shot Put
Isaiah Brunache, 18th, Discus

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

This was quite a successful couple of days for us! Faithful readers may recall the challenges I had identified in my comments regarding last week's 'last chance' at Williams College; all of those factors still apply. The exciting thing for the squad is the number of outstanding performances we saw over the past couple of days!
 
First from Wednesday evening, the men's 4x400 ran a spectacular time to not only move up to the 17th-best program in the country, but also to the #3 time in Cortland history. The guys ran great races, and are unfortunately sitting just outside of qualification as the top 16 entered teams are accepted into the meet. The squad is .28 seconds out of qualifying – which is tough to swallow – but also a great indication of how far they have  come over the year! Isaiah Brunache had a great hammer throw on Wednesday evening as well, while Cheyenne McPeek broke through with a season's best in the event that leaves her in the top 22 nationally – meaning she is safely into the NCAA Championships. Melissa Innocent closed her season with a wonderfully executed race in the 5k, setting a new PR in the process and setting the table nicely for the upcoming cross country campaign.

Thursday ended up a nearly impossibly strong day for us, as we had three new NCAA qualifying performances! For the Lady Red Dragons, Reilly Quinn not only tied her PR of 1.68 on a first-attempt clearance to lock ion her NCAA qualification, she then easily cleared 1.71 on her first attempt to move up the rankings nationally, move up to fourth all-time at Cortland, and earn the win at the meet! That's quite a strong day! Isaiah ripped an impressive discus throw – the farthest of his career – to jump up to national qualification. Between his win in the discus, runner-up in the shot, and placing in the hammer, Isaiah also earned the field event performer of the meet! And last but in now ways least, Manuel Sepulveda battled back from a series of setbacks to jump an outdoor personal best in the triple jump, solidifying his spot at the NCAA championships and to move up to fourth all-time at Cortland!
 
It's also worth noting that Gianna Boland continued her excellence in the triple jump from the conference meet with big jumps, and that firstyear Elliott Supley closed his rookie campaign with a huge throw that ranks his as the second firstyear in the country, and in the second spot on our all-time list. While we definitely didn't worry about the team scoring aspect of this meet, to be 2nd (for the men) and 9th (for the women) is a pretty great measure of the strength of our program!
 
We're excited for the upcoming NCAA Champions, with the knowledge that Isaiah (in shot and disc), Kyler Alston (in the 400 hurdles), Evan Collette (in the hammer throw), and Manuel (in the triple jump) are safely qualified for the men, while Reilly (in high jump), Cheyenne (in the hammer throw), and Jennifer Ndukwu (also in the hammer throw) are safely qualified for the women. With graduation happening on Saturday, we also want to thank our newest alumni for the time and effort they have put into the program. We'll miss them dearly!