Harley Buczkowski broke the school record in the weight throw that had stood since January 2001 (Darl Zehr Photography)
ITHACA, N.Y. – Harley Buczkowski (Holland Patent) broke a 17-year-old school record in the weight throw to highlight Cortland's performances at the Cornell University Kane Invitational.
Buczkowski finished second out of 17 competitors with her record-breaking throw of 16.40 meters (53' 9.75") on her fifth of six attempts. She eclipsed, almost exactly 17 years to the day, the previous mark of 16.27 meters (53' 4.5") set by Kiana Peake on Jan. 28, 2001 at Boston University. Buczkowski currently ranks 14th nationally in Division III and is third in the Atlantic Region with her effort. She is now a school record-holder in two events; she broke the school hammer throw record during the outdoor season last spring.
In addition, Buczkowski placed fourth out of 17 in the shot put at 10.46 meters (34' 4"). Cat Lutjen (Sound Beach/Miller Place) was fifth (10.09 meters/33' 1.25") and Shannon Hanmer (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) placed eighth (9.49 meters/31' 1.75").
Kim White (Marathon) led five Cortland top-10 finishers out of 20 entrants in the 60-meter hurdles, including three who qualified for the eight-hurdler finals. White finished third in 9.87 seconds, Cristin Rodriguez (Merrick/Calhoun) was fifth in 9.94 seconds (9.53 prelims), and Gillian Lee (Syosset) placed eighth in 10.58 seconds (10.31 prelims). Just missing the finals were Sydney Socha (Clifton Springs/Midlakes) in ninth place (10.51) and Nicole Hallenbeck (Claverack/Taconic Hills) in 10th place (10.58).
Kelly Gardner (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) finished in the top portion of the field in three events. She was seventh of 26 in the long jump at 5.04 meters (16' 6.5"), 10th of 30 in the 60-meter dash in 8.32 seconds, and 13th of 56 in the 200-meter dash in 27.63 seconds. Dana Messina (East Meadow) finished 11th in the 60-meter dash (8.36) and 16th in the 200-meter dash (28.18).
Kaylee Uhl (Waverly) was seventh of 27 in the 400-meter dash (1:02.80), with Carolyn Wagner (Delmar/Bethlehem) 11th (1:04.23). Sara Billings (Gansevoort/South Glens Falls) placed eighth of 26 in the 3,000 meters (10:43.74) and Asia Cornwall (East Greenbush) was 18th in the 200 meters (28.40).
Cortland returns to action next Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3-4, at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational and Multi.
COACH'S CORNER (comments from head coach Steve Patrick about the men's and women's meets):
"We're obviously impressed with Harley Buczkowski to go out in the second meet of the semester and throw such a big personal best and a new school record! She's worked very hard, so it is great to see her have that sort of an improvement. Our men's long jumpers, Dev Williams and Wendell Brand, had a really nice first meet of the semester! Both of those guys have only been back training with us this week, so we have had a lot of rust to scrape off. Our distance runners for both the men and women put together some really nice races, which was great to see, led by lifetime bests from Nolan Vest in the mile and Sara Billings in the 3,000. Across the team we got to see some very good steps in the right direction which leaves us excited for the upcoming weeks!"
