Cortland Sports Information Department
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) finished second nationally in the shot put and Zach Nyhart (Hamburg) tied for fourth place in the pole vault to each earn All-America honors, and Brett Morse (Saratoga Springs) qualified for the finals in the 110-meter hurdles, during the second day of competition at the NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The three-day event is being hosted by St. John Fisher University.
Brunache, in his first collegiate year, entered the championship seeded 13th out of 22 competitors. On his third and final attempt of the preliminary round, Brunache broke his own school record with a distance of 17.02 meters (55' 10.25"). His previous best was 16.59 meters (54' 5.25").
After the prelims, the top nine advanced to the finals for three more attempts with a chance to improve on the prelim results. Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Yakob Ekoue bested Brunache with a toss of 17.63 meters (57' 10.25") on his fifth overall attempt (second of the finals) to win the national title. Brunache fouled on his first two attempts in the finals, followed by a 16.36-meter effort in the last round, leaving his 17.02-meter shot put as the national runner-up mark.
Brunache is the second Cortland men's track and field athlete to earn All-America honors in the shot put. James Monaco finished fourth nationally outdoors in 1982 and fifth outdoors in 1983.
Nyhart, a senior, finished in a six-way tie for fourth place in the pole vault to earn All-America honors for the second time this year. He placed seventh indoors in the event in March. Nyhart cleared both 4.60 meters (15' 1") and 4.75 meters (15' 7") on his first attempts. Only three athletes cleared the next height (4.90 meters/16' 0.75"), and Nyhart was one of six in the group of 14 who finished at 4.75 meters who didn't miss at either 4.75 or 4.60 meters.
Ithaca's Dominic Mikula won national title at 5.05 meters (16' 6.75"), followed by Brockport's Dustin Meyer in second at 4.95 meters (16' 2.75").
Top eight finishers in each event are All-Americans and earn team points.
Morse, a senior, advanced to Saturday's eight-competitor finals in the 110-meter hurdles with his preliminary time of 14.45 seconds. He finished third in the third of three heats - the winner of each heat plus the next five fastest times qualified for the finals. Morse's time was sixth-best out of 22 competitors overall.
Cortland wraps up action at the championship Saturday with Amarian Hughes (Newburgh/Marlboro) competing in the triple jump prelims and potentially finals at 1 p.m., Morse in the 110-meter hurdles finals at 1:50 p.m., and Aaron Jones (Buffalo/Hutch Tech), Coltrane Goring (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame), Harrison Gavalas (Southampton) and Douglas Knapp (Brooklyn/Xaverian) in the 4x400-meter relay finals at 4:50 p.m.
Coach's Corner - Comments from Cortland Head Coach Steve Patrick:
WOW! What a day for the Cortland Red Dragons!
Zach Nyhart started us off right! It's a little bittersweet in the he was jumping so well early, and had two attempts where he just lightly nudged the bar off at 4.90, but his focus to have the first two bars cleared on the first attempt paid off tremendously as it put him into the tie for 4th! If he had missed either of those first attempts, he would have missed the podium. The sport can be a little strange sometimes, but that's OK! Zach finishes his career with us as a two-time All-American and school record holder; all three of those are individually spectacular achievements! Of course, Dr. Peter McGinnis, our vault coach, should be applauded for all of the time, effort, expertise, and wisdom he brings to our vault squad!
Isaiah Brunache came out and competed tremendously today! He looked good in warmups, but really showed a great deal of mental focus and emotional control building on each throw to finish the first round with a new PR/School Record, and then after waiting for the second flight, to come out for the finals as the top seed – which is the last thrower – he showed up and competed well! Especially on his first two throws in finals, Isaiah was executing his technique quite well and just 'lost' the throw at the end. We spend a lot of time as a program emphasizing the process over the result, and you could see Isaiah really committing to that with every throw today, which might be more exciting – especially long-term – than the result today. Besides being the first All-American award for Isaiah, this also represents the first All-American athlete that our throws coach, Tyler Hochadel, has brought to the podium.
Our day closed with Brett Morse in the hurdles, and again the theme of competing well and focusing on the process shone through. Brett was able to stay relaxed, focused, and confident and by doing so ran a strong race, especially over the final 4 – 5 hurdles, to advance to tomorrow's finals. It's certainly great to see when somebody allows themselves to perform at the level they are capable of!
We're excited for tomorrow, as Amarian Hughes starts off our day with competition in the men's triple jump, followed by Brett in the high hurdles and our men's 4x400 closing out the season.
