Tiffany Cycon eclipsed her own 60-meter dash record twice today

Women's Track & Field 1/20/2017 10:16:00 PM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Records Fall For Wildcat Women At Highlander Invitational

New School Benchmarks Established In Four Different Events

HOUGHTON, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's indoor track and field team got their 2016-17 season kicked into high gear tonight by setting new school records in four different events during competition at the Highlander Invitational hosted by Houghton College at the Kerr-Pegula Fieldhouse.

Sophomore sprinter Tiffany Cycon (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) broke her own school record twice for the 60-meter dash twice in the same 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 added another fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash as well today, completing that race in 27.02 seconds.

Senior Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) added another record in her stellar career, setting a new benchmark in the one-mile run. Donahue, who finished last season as the team record-holder in both the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs while earning first-team All-East Coast Conference honors in both events, topped the mile-run field with a time of 5:11.99 today, surpassing the previous record (5:21.64) set by Hannah Rice (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) during the 2014-15 season. Teammate Ashley Cheff (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) added a ninth-place finish in the one-mile run today with a time of 5:26.88.

Donahue and Cheff were also members of the record-setting distance medley team, joining teammates Morgan Urbanek (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) and Katherine Robinson (Pasadena, Calif./Pasadena) in the record books. The group finished first in the event with a record-setting time of 13:00.87, breaking the Wildcats' previous top time (13:01.60) by just one second.

Sophomore Sydney McDonough (Alfred, N.Y./Alfred-Almond Central) got in on the act as well, establishing a new team record in the 300-meter dash. She finished 14th overall with a time of 44.77 seconds, bettering the previous mark (45.16 seconds) by less than half a second. The previous record-holder, sophomore Kyra Kress (Wayland, N.Y./Alfred-Almond Central), finished in 17th place today with a time of 45.37 seconds.

Other highlights on the track today included a solid debut for freshman hurdler Sam Karp (Ransomville, N.Y./Lewiston-Porter). She finished third in her qualifying heat for the 60-meter hurdles, posting a time of 10.14 seconds. Karp would go on to finish in seventh place in the event finals, running the race in 10.49 seconds.

In relay action, the team of Cycon, Donahue, Kress and McDonough came oh-so-close to joining the record-setting party in the 4x400-meters. They finished third out of eight relay teams in the event with a time of 4:16.84, just a few hundredths of a second off the record-setting pace (4:16.35) that Cycon and Kress established with former Wildcats Brooke Nolan and Lindsey Wood at last season's conference championship meet.

In field events, Kress teamed with freshman Taylor Haude (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton) to put forth a good showing in the pole vault. The duo finished third and fourth, respectively, having each cleared 2.97 meters on the vault.

Sophomore thrower Ellory Roberts (Lowville, N.Y./Lowville) finished 10th in the 20-pound weight throw (11.28 meters) and 13th in the shot put (9.30 meters), while classmate Rachel Roberson (Tonawanda, N.Y./Sweet Home) finished 14th in the long jump (4.57 meters).

Today's meet marked the first team event of the 2016-17 season. Donahue was the lone athlete to compete this season prior to today, having been a participant in the 5,000-meter run field at the Boston University Season Opener meet back on Dec. 3.

Daemen continues its season at the Brockport Golden Eagle Multi and Invitational next Saturday, Jan. 28 with the meet slated to get underway beginning at 10 a.m.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen men's and women's track and field teams, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenTRACK on Twitter.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Brooke Nolan: 5' 7"; Senior

Ashley Cheff: 5' 3"; Junior

Lindsey Wood: 5' 8"; Junior

Ashley Cheff: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Brooke Nolan: 5' 7"; Senior

Lindsey Wood: 5' 8"; Junior

Tiffany Cycon: 5' 5"; Sophomore

Mackenzie Donahue: 5' 2"; Senior

Kyra Kress: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Hannah Rice: 5' 5"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Brooke Nolan
: 5' 7"; Senior

Ashley Cheff
: 5' 3"; Junior

Lindsey Wood
: 5' 8"; Junior

Ashley Cheff
: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Brooke Nolan
: 5' 7"; Senior

Lindsey Wood
: 5' 8"; Junior

Tiffany Cycon
: 5' 5"; Sophomore

Mackenzie Donahue
: 5' 2"; Senior

Kyra Kress
: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Hannah Rice
: 5' 5"; Junior