EAST STROUDSBURG – It was a historic Friday afternoon for Cole Gorham as the junior broke the all-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) record in the discus to highlight a successful day for the Warriors, who hosted the 18th Annual All-American Meet at Eiler-Martin Stadium.
On his second to last attempt of the day, Cole Gorham unleased the discus an all-time league milestone of 57.55m (188-9), which ranks second on the NCAA Division II performance list. The Kingston native, who was named the PSAC Field Athlete of the Week on Monday, eclipsed the meet and Eiler-Martin Stadium record and surpassed his previous school record mark of 53.80m (176-6) by over 12 feet.
The previous PSAC discus throw record was 186 feet, four inches, set by Kutztown's Luke Hoffman at the 2019 PSAC Outdoor Championships.
Cole's brother Jack Gorham produced ESU's fifth NCAA provisional mark of the outdoor season as the junior leaped a personal-best 7.37m (24-2 ¼) on his third attempt.
Winning events for the Warriors was Lucas Thaler (1500m), Carlton Wise (pole vault), Ragiariki Lewis (110, hurdles), Tyler Boone (400m), Liam Beifus (400m hurdles), Justin Gockley (100m), Cole Gorham (discus, shot put), Nicholas Cruz (javelin) and Carlton Wise (pole vault).
Running Highlights
Enroute to a first-place finish in the 110m hurdles, Lewis posted a time of 15.19 out of Heat 1. In the 100m, Gockley captured the title after crossing the line in 11.30 and Ben Terry finished fifth place with a time of 11.57.
ESU dominated the 400m as the Warriors finished first through sixth place led by Boone at the top with a time of 48.21. Miguel Charlery (49.37) finished as the runner-up, Zephyr Crestwell (50.01) took third, Ryan Ditty (50.17) was fourth, Jaylen Morrison (50.20) took fifth and Zandrew Bowe (50.25) rounded out the finishes in sixth place.
Capturing the title in the 400m hurdles for the Warriors was Beifus as the junior crossed the line in 55.59.
Lucas Thaler claimed the title in the 1500m as the freshman clocked a personal-best time of 4:15.16.
Thaler returned to the track for the 800m where he took sixth place with a time of 2:04.25, while sophomore Andrew Dowdell followed in seventh at 2:04.52.
A trio of Warriors finished inside the top-10 of the 200m as Evan Clark (23.12) led the way in fourth place, followed by Terry (23.36) in seventh and Thompson (23.52) in 10th place.
ESU wrapped up the afternoon on the track with a third place finish in the 4x400m relay as the Warrior quartet clocked a time of 3:38.30.
Field Highlights
Alongside Cole Gorham's historic day in the discus, Jacob Carney secured a fifth place finish with a personal-best throw of 41.25m (135-4) and Josh Meshach was right behind in sixth at 41.17m (135-1).
Earlier in the day, Gorham captured a first place finish in the shot put after recording a throw of 16.89m (55-5), while Voto was the runner-up at 16.48m (54-1) and Meshach in fourth with a mark of 13.83m (45-4 ½).
On his way to a first-place finish in the javelin, Cruz posted a throw of 47.05m (154-4) to win the event while Jace Hersh (44.39m – 145-7) and Marcus McNeil (42.36m – 138-11) took third and sixth place respectively.
On his way to a runner-up finish in the long jump, Jack Gorham recorded a personal-best and NCAA provisional mark of 7.37m (24-2 ¼) on his attempt which moved him to seventh all-time in the record books. Also competing for ESU was Bryson Gilchrist (6.70m – 21-11 ¾) in fifth, Ragiariki Lewis (6.42m – 21-0 ¾) in seventh and Jaiden Lee (6.32m – 20-9) in ninth place.
In the high jump, a trio of Warriors finished in a tie for second as Jaden Johnson, Daniel Smith and Aaron Sanchez eclipsed the bar at 1.90m (6-2 ¾).
Wise beat out fellow teammate Chris Costa for the title in the pole vault as the freshman cleared a personal-best and PSAC automatic qualifying height of 4.20m (13-9 ¼) on his final attempt.
In the hammer, Isaac Almoney was the runner-up with a throw of 54.54m (178-11), Voto was right behind in third place at 53.92m (176-11) and Carney rounded out the finishes in sixth at 40.12m (131-7).
Johnson turned his attention to the triple jump where the sophomore posted a third place finish after leaping 14.07m (46-2), while freshman Nasir Heard took fifth with a personal-best mark of 13.92m (45-8).
Up Next
ESU gets one final tune-up next week prior to the PSAC Outdoor Championships (May 3-5) as select Warriors will compete at the Penn Relays (April 25-27) and Lehigh's Covert Classic (April 26-27).
