AMHERST, N.Y. –
Tiffany Cycon (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) and
Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi) have been named the Daemen College Student-Athletes of the Month presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC for January 2017.
Cycon, a sprinter on the track and field team, kicked off her sophomore season in fine fashion last month.
Cycon shined in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash events during two track meets last month. She opened the month by placing fourth in both events at the Highlander Invitational hosted by Houghton College. She broke her own school record for the 60-meter dash twice during in the day. Cycon topped her preliminary heat with a record-breaking time of 8.15 seconds, eclipsing her previous mark of 8.18 seconds set last season at the SPIRE Indoor Track & Field Challenge. She went on to finish fourth in the 60-meter dash finals with a still-better time of 8.09 seconds. Cycon capped the day with a time of 27.02 in the 200-meter dash.
A week later Cycon placed first in both of her events and led the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish out of 12 schools at the Golden Eagle Invitational hosted by The College of Brockport. She once again eclipsed her own school record (8.09 seconds) in the 60-meter dash, running the event finals in 8.07 seconds for a first-place finish. She then established a new team record in the 200-meter dash, finishing first out of 51 competitors with a time of 26.58 seconds. The previous record (26.83 seconds) was set by Casey Oliphant on December 15, 2012 (SPIRE Collegiate Season Opener) in the program's second-ever indoor meet.
Cycon and her teammates return to action this weekend (Feb. 4) when they travel to Alliance, Ohio to take part in the Jim Wuske Invitational hosted by the University of Mount Union.
Mehmetaj, a 6-foot-7 redshirt-senior, led the men's basketball team to a 7-1 record during the month of January. He shot 43-percent (16-37) from three-point land and averaged 17.6 points and 5.1 rebounds over the eight games. He opened the month with a 19-point effort in a win over Mercy College, and he would go on to score 20 or more points three times during the month. His 21 points led the Wildcats to a key win at Queens College and he followed that up with his second double-double of the year in a last-second loss at Molloy College. He connected on 9-of-12 shots (4-of-5 from downtown) and totaled 26 points and 14 rebounds in the 78-75 loss to Molloy. He also racked up 21 points in a win over District of Columbia and contributed 18 points in just 19 minutes in a win over LIU Post. He capped the month with 17 points, seven rebounds and a career-high six blocks in a win at Mercy. He was twice named to the East Coast Conference Weekly Honor Roll during the month.
After missing the first three games of the year due to injury, Mehmetaj has started 14 of the last 17 games and leads the team in points per game (14.9 ppg), rebounds per game (5.2 rpg) and total blocks (18). He also ranks third on the team in three-point field goals made (30). He has scored in double figures in each of the last six games and 12 of 17 games overall.
Since transferring to Daemen from SUNY Delhi, Mehmetaj has appeared in 49 games while making 45 starts, and he has totaled 719 points (14.7 ppg), 303 rebounds (6.2 rpg) and 81 three-point field goals.
Daemen (14-6, 8-4 ECC) takes a four-game winning streak into a key ECC game against the University of Bridgeport (11-8, 7-3 ECC) Thursday (Feb. 2) night. The action tips off at 8 p.m. in Lumsden Gymnasium, where the Wildcats are 11-1 this season.
