Etched in history
Sample sets American record in T45 ambulatory long jump
Photo courtesy of Bucknell Athletics Rayven Sample set the T45 American record in the ambulatory long jump at the 2026 Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships in New York City.
Photo courtesy of Washington & Jefferson Athletics Washington & Jefferson head football coach Mike Sirianni was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame earlier this month.
Photo courtesy of Bucknell Athletics Rayven Sample set the T45 American record in the ambulatory long jump at the 2026 Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships in New York City.
Photo courtesy of Washington & Jefferson Athletics Washington & Jefferson head football coach Mike Sirianni was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame earlier this month.
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Rayven Sample made history last week.
Competing in the 2026 Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships in New York City, he set the T45 American record in the ambulatory long jump.
The former standout on the Falconer/Cassadaga Valley and, later, the Bucknell University track & field teams, the 24-year-old shattered the T45 American record with a leap of 5.93 meters (19 feet, 5.5 inches), although he had not jumped since his sophomore season at Bucknell and did not practice for the event leading up to his trip to the Big Apple, according to a report on the Bucknell website.
Sample's other five jumps broke the old T45 record as well, helping him finish seventh overall in the event out of 10 competitors.
That wasn't Sample's only highlight on the day. Before his record-breaking jump, Sample claimed another gold medal in the T45 400 meters after winning last year in Eugene, Oregon. His time of 51.34 was nearly a full second faster than his qualifying time of 52.19, while finishing fourth overall.
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One of NCAA Division III's most successful football coaches was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame earlier this month.
Mike Sirianni, who has guided the Washington & Jefferson College program since 2003, is a Southwestern Central School and Mount Union College graduate. Since taking over as the Presidents' head coach, Siranni has compiled a 202-49 record (.805); won or shared the Presidents' Athletic Conference title 10 times; and has been named the PAC Coach of the Year on seven occasions. In 2017, he was named Region 2 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association and, in 2021, was chosen the South Region Coach of the Year by D3football.com.
The winningest football coach in W&J history, Sirianni began his athletic journey during high school where he earned four letters in track and field, three letters in basketball and two letters in football. His success continued at Mount Union where he compiled 99 receptions for 1,746 yards and 25 touchdowns, helping the Purple Raiders to a NCAA Division III national championship in 1993. As a junior and a senior, Sirianni also won the Ohio Athletic Conference triple jump four times, twice indoors and twice outdoors.
After graduating from Mount Union in 1994, Sirianni served as a graduate assistant coach at Ithaca College, while earning his master's degree in exercise and sports management. From there, he coached wide receivers at his alma mater for three seasons, during which the Purple Raiders won the NCAA Division III title in 1996 and 1997. Following a year as offensive coordinator at Wilkes University and another three years as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for W&J.
The son of Fran and Amy Sirianni, Sirianni was inducted into the Washington Greene Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2024, and is also an inductee of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame where his father and brothers, Jay and Nick, are also enshrined.
A Hopewell, Pennsylvania resident, Sirianni and his wife, Jennifer, are the parents of two daughters, Jenna and Jordan.