Cassadaga Valley graduate Rayven Sample speaks at the Falconer Invitational on Friday at Bill Race Field in Falconer. OBSERVER Photo by Scott Kindberg

FALCONER — Bucknell University sophomore Rayven Sample returned home for a bit of rest and relaxation over the weekend.

He also came bearing gifts.

And the Falconer/Cassadaga Valley track & field program was the beneficiary.

Sample, a 2020 Cassadaga Valley Central School graduate and a member of the 2021 United States Paralympic Team, presented Golden Cougars’ coaches Dave Nelson and Nick Spry his framed Paralympic jersey and number at the Falconer Invitational on Friday at Bill Race Field.

“I credit Cassadaga Valley and Falconer’s track program. The time spent here is the big reason that I’m able to be at a university like Bucknell,” said Sample, who reached the finals of the 400 meters at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo last September. “They’ve really pushed me far beyond whatever I thought was possible.”

Sample was born with a rare condition called arthrogryposis, which causes joint contracture that limits his range of motion, but he has never let it prevent him from pursuing his goals. In fact, he described himself as the “unofficial” world record-holder in the 400 and 800 meters in his T45 classification.

“I have to be careful with this phrasing,” Sample said. “To get that official title, I would have to race at a meet where the USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) or another drug-test agency is at. That’s the only thing that hasn’t been fulfilled yet. … I’ve met the times on numerous occasions and beaten those times on numerous occasions.”

During Bucknell’s 2021-22 indoor season, Sample placed fifth in the 400 meters at the Patriot League Championships with a time of 49.46. He hopes to equal or better that performance this coming weekend at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships in Annapolis, Maryland.

Sample will be busy until then.

He was scheduled to leave Buffalo on Sunday on a flight to Washington, D.C., to begin “Team USA Week,” which commemorates the athletes’ success at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“Certainly, it was not a trip I wanted to miss,” said Sample, who is pursuing a double major in psychology and education. “I was kind of emailing all my professors frantically, figuring out how we can move this and how we can move that. I know it’s an issue with some of the other Paralympians who are in college right now who cannot go because of their finals. I was very lucky that all of my professors worked everything out so that we kind of moved everything around to make this a possibility.”

There’s another appointment that Sample has on this week’s itinerary — a visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in the nation’s capital.

“Tuesday night or Wednesday night will be a celebration for all the athletes followed the next day by a visit to the White House and, I believe from what I’ve heard, a meeting with the president,” he said.

It’s been that kind of run, literally and figuratively, for the Falconer/Cassadaga Valley track team alum.

“I didn’t see myself running Division I,” Sample said. “Certainly doing Division I athletics is a feat of its own. As a paralympic athlete and as a non-able-bodied individual, that is phenomenal. I’m one of a very few that have (done) ‘double,’ competing at Division I and being a non-able-bodied athlete.”

Sample believes there’s more good things to come, noting that his best 400-meter time is 49.16.

“If I would have run that time in Tokyo, it would have placed me fourth,” he said. “Looking forward, I have a little bit of a gap to get in that medal position — about a second. A few more years of training in college, getting a little bit older and getting closer to my prime, I think it will certainly be within my grasp.”