NYSPHSAA TRACK AND FIELD; CORNING'S MCLAUGHLIN WINS STATE, FEDERATION HURDLES TITLE; CIMO TAKES 5TH AT STATES (2025-06-14)

Southern Tier Sports Report
MIDDLETOWN —All season long Corning junior Cella McLaughlin had the goal to get under 14 seconds in the 100 hurdles.

She hit that goal on Saturday, giving her a state and federation title, as well as breaking her own school and section records as she ran a 13.92.

McLaughlin was .26 faster than anyone else in the field in the race. In the federation final she ran a 14.0 to capture the title.

The titles come a day after McLaughlin took second in the long jump with a new section and school record.

“I am feeling so great,” McLaughlin said. “I’m on top of the world right now. I went in nervous, because being the leading seed can be pretty scary. For long (jump) I was seeded fifth and went in just hoping for a PR and ended up PRing by a lot and getting second in the state.

“For hurdles, I was so excited. I broke 14 seconds, which was a huge goal for me and then won both finals and the federation race. I’m so excited that I get to set a new record for my section. Overall this was an amazing states and I can’t wait to start training for indoor.”

For Corning coach Ray Lawson it was special to see McLaughlin get under 14 seconds.

“Hurdles race has been within a tenth of a second of going under 14,” Lawson said. “It’s something she really wanted and we knew after the trials there were four to five girls all within hundredths of a second that would be in her race. She had been getting out really well out of the blocks, just not quite clean on a hurdle or two to her liking. IN the Class A final, she got out to a very good start and kind of gapped the field a little bit. Credit to her and to coach Ketchum.”

The long jump is something that McLaughlin hadn’t been preparing for quite as much recently, but she was able to have a special day in it.

“We were very pleasantly surprised with the long jump,” Lawson said. “Recently coach Ketchum has had her just doing some more training jumps and not focusing on going all out on the long jump and focusing on hurdles. State quals she did three events, she did the 4x4 relay which helped us quality for states. So, she’s been focusing on other things besides the long jump, but she went down and was fresh and was a great competitor. She just led off with a tremendous jump, set a new section record and school record and held on for a second-place finish in the state. Very good way to start the meet for her. It just shows how talented she is to be at that high level. Under pressure she handles it well.”

Sophia Cimo earned a fifth-place finish in the public school Class A discus with a personal-best throw of 117-feet, 1-inch.

“She had thrown it well enough in the preliminary round to make the finals and then some people threw well in the finals and she had to respond to place in the medal position and she came away with a PR in the finals, which is her lifetime best. I’m very very proud of the athletes under pressure to medal at the state meet and all three of them (McLaughlin, Cimo and Jaxyn Mahoney) have their personal best at the state meet. Her hard work has paid off as well. All three will be competing at New Balance Nationals. Sophia in the hammer throw. Jaxyn will be in several relays, the sprint medley relay, the distance medley relay and the four by mile. He has run well for us to be in that position. And, Cella will be in the 100 hurdles so we are excited to see how she can do against the best in the nation.”

In the 1600 relay Chinonyerem Okoro, Laiana Gardner, Claire Devlin and Aurora Jellif finished 18th in 4:16.79.

The Corning boys took 20th in the 1600 relay in 3:29.56 with a team of Dexter Badger, Ryan Calkins, Charles Warner and Wyatt McDonald.

Elmira’s Selena Rollins competed in the high jump, but no heighted.

Freddie Collins of Corning was 14th in the shot put at 44-feet, 1-inch.

“We hope for some people they have been here, so getting back they want to be on the podium and medal, and for some athletes it’s their first time here and they see the level of competition beyond Section 4 and we hope it inspires them and keeps them motivated to do the training,” Lawson said. “So, good experience with our athletes here. So, hopefully it helps them build to something that carries to indoor and outdoor next year.”

Mahoney was third in the 800 on Friday with a new school-record time.

“So happy for Jaxyn, he’s been working hard, he had a very solid cross country season,” Lawson said. “Good indoor season. He had run 1:58 as a sophomore. He had been training hard and waiting for the right races. He had a great sectional meet and a great state qualifier meet and kept improving his times.

“He was very smooth in the state race and made 1:54. He just looked like he was focused the entire time, racing the entire time. I’m really happy for him because he’s worked hard to get there. He should be very proud of that. It’s a school record that goes back to 2010 and Jarred Cornfield, a great runner for us. It’s a record a lot of people have chased and Jaxyn was able to get it.”
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PHOTOS BY KIRK LUVISON AND SHEILA SUTTON.


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