Isaiah Brunache Earns Discus All-America Honor During NCAA Opening Day

Cortland Sports Information Department

La CROSSE, WIS. – Cortland senior Isaiah Brunache (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) earned track and field All-America honors for the seventh time of his career with an eighth-place finish out of 22 competitors in the discus during Day 1 of the 2026 NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships
 
Brunache finished with a distance of 49.99 meters (164' 0"). Gavin Fritsch of Wisconsin-Oshkosh won the title at 55.17 meters (181' 0"). Brunache competed in the first of two 11-athlete flights and was second after that flight, hitting his top distance on his third of three attempts. After the second flight finished, Brunache sat in eighth place and qualified for the nine-person finals.
 
Brunache did not improve his mark during his final three attempts, but he held on to eighth place as the ninth-place finisher posted a distance of 48.84 meters on his final throw.
 
Brunache's seven All-America honors include three outdoors and four indoors, all with national finishes in the top eight. This is the third year in which the top eight finishers are designated at first-team All-Americans, while places 9-16 in individual events are second-team honorees. Brunache is an All-American in the discus for the first time; he previously finished 18th nationally in the event in 2024. His other outdoor All-America honors were shot put national runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2025, and he'll compete in the shot put Friday at 4 p.m. (3 p.m. CT).
 
Junior Kyler Alston (Latham/Shaker) finished in 17th place in the 400-meter hurdles, missing second-team All-America honors by one place. He posted a time of 54.64 seconds to place fifth of seven in the first heat. In the second heat, one hurdler finished behind Alston and another didn't start, and in the third and final heat one competitor finished behind slower than Alston. The winner of each heat, plus the next six fastest runners, advance to Saturday's finals.

In addition to Brunache competing in the shot put Friday, Cortland also will have Reilly Quinn competing on the women's side in the high jump.

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

Obviously to see Isaiah earn first team All American in the discus was pretty wonderful! He got a mark out there early and was then trying to put together the big one, which is pretty admirable. That event is very susceptible to pressure as it requires a high degree of precision, so to keep his composure they way he did and compete so well was great - especially if you compare where he was ranked entering the contest and how just 8 days ago he wasn't qualified for the meet!

Kyler was in a pretty reasonable spot; he executed the switch to a 14-step pattern smoothly, and even though he was on his wrong leg when he went back to a 15-step pattern in the second half of the race, his touchdown splits showed that he was putting together a solid run. Unfortunately he was a bit off on spacing at hurdle 10 and the collision led to almost a full stop that he didn't recover from well enough. It's a tough learning experience, but those experiences are what help us to grow and move forward. The NCAA championships can be quite tough mentally, and getting to the first one is an important step!

We're looking forward to Isaiah's shot put tomorrow as well as Reilly Quinn's high jump!