ITHACA, N.Y. and BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Senior Maya Campbell (Valley Stream/Valley Stream South) set a school record in the triple jump to highlight Cortland's women's indoor track and field team's performances during a busy opening weekend of the 2018-19 season.

Campbell won the triple jump with a distance of 11.86 meters (38' 11") to eclipse the previous school mark of 11.83 meters (38' 9.75") set by Amber Stephens in 2013. Campbell is currently ranked first nationally in Division III in the event, and her effort was one of the Red Dragons' five All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) qualifiers during the meet.

Ace Bruce (Ellenville) also hit an AARTFC mark in the triple jump and ranked third nationally as of late Saturday night with her fourth-place distance of 11.39 meters (37' 4.5"). Taylor Hunter (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) met the AARTFC standard with a fifth-place time of 8.05 seconds in the 35-entry 60-meter dash and Harley Buczkowski (Holland Patent) was sixth of 28 in the weight throw with an AARTFC mark of 14.53 meters (47' 8").

Cortland's other regional mark came from the 4x400-meter relay team when Steffany Batista (Spring Valley/Ramapo), Kaylee Uhl (Waverly), Sofia Housman (Garnerville/North Rockland) and Jesse Correale (Staten Island/Notre Dame Academy) finished fifth out of 13 teams in 4:07.37. Batista also missed the school record in the 300-meter dash by only a hundredth of a second with her seventh-place time of 41.53 seconds in a 38-runner field.

Campbell finished fourth of 19 in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.58 seconds (9.49 prelims) and Malley Bowen (Owego/Tioga) was sixth in 9.75 seconds (9.66 prelims). In the 3,000-meter run, Sam Himes (Amherst/Sweet Home) was fifth of 17 in 10:59.72, followed by Eliza Nichols (Smithtown/Smithtown West) in sixth (11:00.57) and Maddie Ciuffetelli (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills East) in seventh (11:12.09).

Cat Lutjen (Sound Beach/Miller Place) was eight of 27 in the shot put (11.11 meters/36' 5.5") and Jill Leggiero (East Greenbush/Columbia) finished fifth of 13 in the 5,000 meters (19:56.85).

At Brockport, three Red Dragons – Molly Baker (Newark Valley), Ali Galus (Buffalo/Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart) and Kim White (Marathon) – competed in the pentathlon. Baker was seventh with 2,892 points, led by a 742-point effort in the 60-meter hurdles (9.84). Galus was 13th (2,488) and White finished 15th (2,305).


Complete Results:
Cornell (Women)
Brockport (Women)
Cornell (Men)
Brockport (Men)


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

This was a very long, and very exciting weekend of track and field action for us!  Obviously Maya Campbell's new school record (and likely NCAA qualifying mark) in the triple jump is incredibly impressive, but we should also note that she and teammate Malley Bowen both made finals of the 60HH for the women.  In fact, SUNY Cortland Red Dragons were also in the finals for the men's 60 (Peyton Lalone), women's 60 (Taylor Hunter), and the men's 60HH on the track (both Micheal Outing and Storm Malone).  That's a great measure of progress for our program, especially so early in the season!
 
We had a lot of nice depth on display in our men's relays today – both of our 4x800 relays put together nice efforts, and having our men's 4x400 relay of Connor Lewis, Austen Johnson, Richard Samuels, and Noah Serrette run 3:23.04 this early was tremendous!  All four of these guys ran great legs and were really working today!  Richard Samuels put together a really solid overall day – besides running the fastest split on the 4x400 relay, he was an important part of the 4x800 winning relay, and posted a great performance in the 500 – one that is now in the top 5 list for SUNY Cortland!  Teammate Ricky Castello, close behind in the 500, is also now on that list!
 
Not only was Maya incredible in the triple jump today, but freshman teammate Ace Bruce was also outstanding – her farthest jump is the 3rd-best ever indoors for a Lady Red Dragon.  Steffany Batista, another newcomer, put down a stellar time in the 300 today, just missing the school record by .01.  Senior Kaylee Uhl posted a great effort in the 300 as well – nearly a 2-second PR, and good enough to move into the top-five list at Cortland for that event.
 
The combined-event athletes took the trip to Brockport to compete over the weekend as well, with equally impressive results.  Of the six athletes that made the trip, four had new lifetime record point totals, and all showed significant improvement in numerous events. 
 
It was a pretty strong opening weekend for the program; we're looking forward to the chance to continue to refine our skills and post some additional marks this upcoming Friday in the 'Cortaca Mug Meet,' a fun little dual meet that Ithaca College hosts.