By February 20, 2006
The men’s and women’s track teams had strong showings in the Marc Deneault Invitational on Saturday in Barton Hall, as they faced their last competition until next weekend’s Heptagonal championships.
The meet featured 15 Division III teams from throughout the region, including local rival Ithaca College and a handful of Penn State athletes. Despite competing without many of its top performers, the Red compiled 21 event wins and seven ECAC/IC4A qualifiers in preparation for Heps.
The women’s squad continued its recent dominance, winning 14 events and collecting six ECAC-qualifying performances.
“I thought considering the circumstances, our team performed very well,” said women’s head coach Lou Duesing. “Our athletes did an excellent job of not looking ahead to the Heps and taking care of business in the present.”
Leading the way for the Red was junior Morgan Uceny, who recorded a victory in the 500 meter with a time of 1:13.17. Her time was the second best time in Cornell history, set a personal record by over a full second, qualified her for the ECAC championship and earned her MVP honors for the meet.
Another standout performance in the middle distances was achieved by classmate Nyam Kagwima, who won the 800 meter event with an ECAC qualifying and personal record time of 2:13.89.
“Nyam’s performance was particularly impressive to me because of where she started from,” Duesing said. “At this point last year, she had no interest in even running the 800, but now through her own hard work she is one of the top-5 runners in that event in the league.”
Senior co-captain Sheeba Ibidunni and junior Sarah Wilford also won their respective events with ECAC-qualifying performances. Ibidunni took the weight throw with a mark of 59 feet and 7 3/4 inches, and Wilford captured the high jump with a leap of 5 feet and 8 3/4 inches.
Sophomore Maria Telloni also contributed to the Red’s cause, as her victory in the shot put with a heave of 44 feet and 10 1/4 inches set a personal record, qualified her for the ECACs and was the fourth best mark in Cornell history.
Rounding out the list of ECAC qualifiers is junior Karen Snyder, who won the triple jump with a season best mark of 38 feet and 9 inches.
Event wins were also contributed by sophomore Joan Casey in the 60 meter hurdles (9.06) and the pole vault (11 feet and 3 3/4 inches), junior Toni-Lynn Salucci in the mile (5:08.40), freshman Troy Mullins in the 60 (7.90), sophomore Katie Reidel in the 400 (59.77), junior Cameron Washington in the 300 (40.41), senior Christy Planer in the 1000 (2:57.75) and freshman Jessica Retelny in the 200 (27.02).
Although this kind of dominance is certainly impressive, Duesing was much more pleased with the amount of athletes who just missed an event win or an ECAC-qualifying performance.
“So many incredible performances are simply lost in the chaos of the meet which may not have won the event, but were certainly just as impressive,” Duesing said. “I am very pleased to see so many athletes achieving such a high level of performance, regardless of whether or not they are recognized for it.”
On the men’s side, although many of the Red’s top performers sat out the meet in preparation for next weekend’s Heps, Cornell still managed seven event wins and a number of other strong performances.
Junior Evan Whitehall led the way for the Red, as he won the pole vault with an IC4A-qualifying leap of 16 feet and 2 3/4 inches.
“For pole-vaulters like Evan, it is essential that they replicate their technique in a competitive setting as much as possible to stay in the groove,” said men’s head coach Nathan Taylor. “It is clear from his performance this weekend that Evan is in the groove and prepared to take on the Heps.”
Cornell also had event wins from sophomore Aaron Merrill in the 60 hurdles (8.33), junior Brad Baird in the 5000 (15:24.03), Neil Baker in the 400 (50.64), junior Kunle Saliu in the triple jump (44 feet and 11 3/4 inches), freshman Garrett Huyler in the high jump (6 feet and 7 inches) and the 4×400 relay team (3:27.01).
With so many deserving athletes from both squads, both coaches expect to have a difficult time selecting the 33-spot Heps roster for next weekend’s action.
“I am definitely going to have a very difficult time reducing the number to 33,” Duesing said. “However I am very pleased that I will have to make all of these tough decisions because of what people did do as opposed to what they didn’t do.”
By February 20, 2006
Nathan Poffenbarger ’08 is in custody at Tompkins County Jail after allegedly stabbing a visiting student on West Campus during an altercation that occurred shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday.
According to sources familiar with the incident, Poffenbarger and an unidentified female were walking in the vicinity of Baker Tower, on the corner of University and West, after Poffenbarger was reportedly kicked out of a West Campus fraternity party for belligerent behavior and use of racial slurs.
University officials said Poffenbarger continued using the epithets after leaving the fraternity and was overheard by a nearby group of three black Union College students, who then confronted Poffenbarger. A verbal altercation escalated, and Poffenbarger allegedly stabbed one of the students.
Poffenbarger fled after an Ithaca Police vehicle arrived on the scene. He turned himself in to authorities Saturday night.
The stab victim, Union senior Charles Holiday of Brooklyn, was taken to the trauma unit at Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira, where he was treated for a wound below his right shoulder that had punctured one of his lungs. Holiday’s condition has since been upgraded from critical to stable.
Poffenbarger is set to be arraigned at Tompkins County Courthouse tomorrow at 10 a.m. for second-degree assault, a class “D” felony. According to Capt. Kathy Zoner of the Cornell Police Department, that status could be elevated to class “C” under hate-crime statutes if racial motivations are proven.
The investigation will be conducted by Tompkins County District Attorney Gwen Wilkinson.
Poffenbarger’s bail has been set at $20,000 cash and $40,000 bond. The Sun was unable to contact Poffenbarger’s attorney for comment.
Dozens of Baker residents were awake in their rooms at the time of the stabbing.
“I heard screaming outside, and about fifteen minutes later a friend of mine came running down the hall and told us that something terrible had happened outside,” said Baker Tower resident Emily Schneider ’08. “We went to her room and looked out the window, and there were a bunch of people outside. One of the black students was being put on a stretcher. The police were cordoning off the area and telling people to get back. There was blood everywhere.”
“I was in my room [in South Baker] when it happened,” said Wayne Huang ’07. “I heard yelling outside my window, but it didn’t occur to me at the time to look out. It just sounded like some drunk students on a Friday night – I didn’t hear any screams of pain or anything.”
Huang, the former editor-in-chief of Turn Left, was shocked to learn that he knew the assailant, who had contributed regularly to Turn Left since transferring from a Maryland college in the fall.
“He had written a lot of good news pieces for us,” said staff member Josh Perlman ’07. “I had spoken to him earlier that day about a new article he was going to be doing. He didn’t seem weird or anything when I spoke to him, just enthusiastic to be writing as he usually was. I was extremely shocked to hear about all this. This seems really out of character.”
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Cornell University Police at (607) 255-1111 or the Ithaca Police Department at (607) 272-9973.