ROCHESTER, N.Y. and ITHACA, N.Y. – Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) obliterated his own school record in the weight throw to highlight Cortland's men's indoor track and field performances as the Red Dragons competed in meets hosted by both Nazareth University and Cornell University.
 
Nazareth Highlights:
 
At the Nazareth Conference Tune-Up meet on Friday, Brunache finished first out of 29 competitors in the weight throw with a school-record heave of 19.84 meters (65' 1.25"), which currently ranks second nationally in Division III. His previous school record of 19.14 meters (62' 9.5") was set during the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships, which also were held at Nazareth. He nearly hit his previous record with his opening toss of 19.10 meters. His record-setting throw came on his sixth and final attempt.
 
Brunache also won the shot put in a field of 30 athletes with a distance of 16.93 meters (55' 6.5") that ranks 13th nationally. Evan Collette (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) finished third at 16.08 meters (52' 9.25"). Both Brunache and Collette posted their top distances on their final attempts.
 
Collette also placed fourth in the weight throw (17.43 meters/57' 2.25"). Elliott Supley (Peru) was fourth in the shot (15.67 meters/51' 5") and ninth in the weight throw (15.06 meters/49' 5"), and Lucas Chamberlain (Copake/Taconic Hills) placed seventh in the shot (14.59 meters/47' 10.5") and 10th in the weight throw (15.04 meters/49' 4.25").
 
Cortland's All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers were Brunache (weight throw, shot put), Collette (weight throw, shot put), Supley (shot put) and Chamberlain (shot put).
 
Cornell Highlights:
 
At Cornell's Marc Deneault Invitational, Manuel Sepulveda (East Rochester) won the long jump with a distance of 6.95 meters (22' 9.75"), beating 20 other competitors. Deontae Bennett (Riverdale, GA/Greenwick (NY)) finished third at 6.89 meters (22' 7.25") and Brady Melious (Tribes Hill/Fonda-Fultonville) was ninth at 6.25 meters (20' 6.25"). Sepulveda also was second of 12 in the triple jump with a distance of 14.42 meters (47' 3.75").
 
Chris Mateo (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) placed second of 17 in the high jump by clearing 1.93 meters (6' 4"). Andrew Farnsworth (Rotterdam/Mohonasen) was sixth at 1.83 meters (6' 0").
 
In the 60-meter dash, LeBron Richardson (Pelham/Pelham Memorial) finished fourth out of 50 competitors in 6.96 seconds. He ran the prelims in 6.95 seconds. Bennett finished eighth (7.08) and Marcello Mastrocco (West Islip) was ninth (7.10). Richardson finished sixth of 53 in the 200-meter dash in 22.62 seconds.
 
Cortland took the top two spots in the 4x400-meter relay. Kyler Alston (Latham/Shaker), Aidan Garafola (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point), Ny'Jeme Radcliff (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) and Zion Cheatham (Lockport)  won the event in 3:21.31, and Daaron Harrell (Albany), Tyler Italiano (Stony Point/North Rockland), Daniel Kahler (Centereach) and Jack Bisbee (Deer Park/Half Hollow Hills West) finished second in 3:30.13.
 
Individually, the four members of the winning 4x400 relay finished in the top five among 18 runners in the 300 meters. Alston won the event in 34.68 seconds, followed by Cheatham in second (34.87), Garafola in third (35.64) and Radcliff in fifth (36.20). Bisbee won the 500-meter run in 1:08.17.
 
Four Red Dragons were in the top 10 out of 33 in the 400-meter dash. Kahler placed fourth in 51.07 seconds, while Harrell was seventh (51.55), Italiano finished ninth (51.62) and Noah Stack (Buffalo/John F. Kennedy) finished 10th (51.70). In the mile, Kyle Friedel (Irondequoit) was seventh of 27 in 4:29.53. Daniel Dunn (Oswego) placed eighth (4:31.15) and Jonathan Slick (Beekmantown) was ninth (4:31.48).
 
Evan Cruz (Pearl River) finished fifth of 22 in the 60-meter hurdles (8.71, 8.54 prelims) and Travis Iwuagwu (Suffern) was sixth (8.72, 8.56 prelims). Jordan Wingert (Verona/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) finished eighth of 35 in the 800 meters (1:59.85), Daniel Patrick (Manlius/Fayetteville-Manlius) was the runner-up in the 5,000 meters (17:14.54), and Quinn Jennings (Oneida) finished 10th (14.03 meters/46' 0.5") and Logan Darling (Homer) placed 11th (13.85 meters/45' 5.25") in the weight throw.
 
Cortland's AARTFC qualifiers at the meet were: Richardson (60-meter dash), Sepulveda (long jump and triple jump), Bennett (long jump), Mateo (high jump), and the 4x400 relay of Alston, Garafola, Radcliff and Cheatham.

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

Obviously the two new school records in the weight throw from Friday night are quite exciting! Evan Collette having a huge shot put PR Friday night to climb up in the top 5 list is pretty great as well and brings a lot of excitement to the throws squad!

Any entrant into the top 5 list here is quite an achievement so to see Bri Gabbidon move to tie for second in the 300 (barely missing the record by .01) is quite an achievement; having both Kyler Alston and Zion Cheatham claim #2 and #3 on the men's 300 list is quite an achievement as well. For the sprints group I'd also like to highlight strong races from Sophia Hotaling (300), Aidan Garafola and Ny'Jeme Radcliff (both in the 300), Dahiana Martinez (400) and Daniel Kahler (also in the 400).

Evan Cruz ran a huge PR in the 60 high hurdles, as did Gianna Boland; both climbed up the conference charts.

In the 800, Jordan Wingert and Jacob Sandak had great efforts to improve in their seeds for the conference meet, while Jewel Jones ran a great race helping to pull Kelly Newman to a great time; Mia Hannan dropped a new best time in the event as well.

Many years this meet is especially rough as folks strain to hit a conference mark. We had so many great performances this weekend that demonstrate a great level of focus by the team, which we're especially proud of!

We will know our officially accepted entries to the SUNYAC championships by Tuesday night; we are looking forward to our squad performing at the championships next weekend!