New Paltz Wins Three SUNYAC Titles

FREDONIA — Three New Paltz athletes won SUNYAC titles at the 2000 SUNYAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at SUNY Fredonia.

Freshmen Andrea Drayss and Matt Selkirk won the women’s shot put and men’s pole vault, respectively, and junior Cassandra Quackenbush won the women’s javelin. This is the first-ever season for the New Paltz women’s team and the first season since the 1970s for the men.

Drayss, an Island Park, NY native and 1999 West Hempstead High graduate, won the shot put with a throw of 11.25 meters. She was fourth in that event at the 2000 SUNYAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on February 19, and is also a member of the Hawks’ women’s volleyball team.

Quackenbush, a Liverpool, NY native, and a 1997 Liverpool High graduate, won the javelin with a toss of 32.72 meters. She also finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:08.57. Quackenbush was the Empire State Games champion in the javelin in 1996, and finished second in 1995. Selkirk, a Canandaigua, NY native, and a 1999 Canandaigua Academy graduate, won the pole vault with a height of 12 feet, 11 ¾ inches. He placed third in that event at the 2000 SUNYAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on February 19. Meanwhile, senior Cheryl Yanek shattered her personal best time to finish second in the 10,000 meters (41:36) and Hyde Park, NY native Erica Petersen placed fifth in 43:02. Freshman Jennifer Schermerhorn also scored for the women, who took seventh in the team standings, with a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (17.53).

On the men’s side, sophomore Corey Crawford was fifth in the steeplechase (10:27) and senior Wallkill product Dale Eberhardt placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles (56.87) and was sixth in the 110-meter hurdles (16:59). Also, freshman Phil Goodwin took fourth in the 1,500 meters (4:07.98), matching his finish in that event at the 2000 SUNYAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on February 19, as the men’s team finished eighth.