Jeomi Maduka, Cornell’s multitalented sprinter-jumper, broke two all-time Ivy League records Saturday night at the inaugural Virginia Duals meet at the Armory.
Maduka, a senior who gave up basketball this winter in order to focus on track, went 21-11 ¾ (6.70) in the long jump and 43-7 (13.28) in the triple jump, eclipsing her own personal bests as well as the Ivy indoor records of 21-9 (her own record from last month) in the LJ and 43-4 ½ by Brittany Grovey of Brown in the TJ in 2006.
The long jump mark also broke the Armory record of 21-3 ½ held by Shameka Marshall of Rutgers and is the leading jump this season by an American or a collegian. It is currently No. 3 in the world for 2009, trailing Olga Kucherenko (22-4 ¼) and Anastasiya Taranova-Potapova (22-0 ¼) of Russia.
Maduka also won the 60-meter dash on Saturday, in 7.57.
In a spirited team competition in the “double quadrangular” format, the Wake Forest men and women won their divisions, while the Penn women and Cornell men won the others.
(Events were scored 6-4-3-2-1, 6-3-1 for the relays. Teams were limited to four entries and two scorers per event. The nine men’s and eight women’s teams were divided into groups for the purposes of competition and scoring.)
In the men’s Gray Division, Cornell and Virginia seesawed back and forth before Coach Nathan Taylor’s Big Red prevailed with late points in the vault and triple jump to defeat Jason Vigilante’s Cavaliers, 86-76. Jim Wyner won the 3k in a quick 7:59.31 for Cornell.
Milers Andrew Jesien and Sintayehu Taye went 1-2 for Virginia in 4:04.61/4:06.61. Jeff Moriarty of Columbia edged Andrew Levy of Cornell in the 8, 1:50.60-1:50.64.
Yemi Ayeni put the shot 59-9 for UVA.
The men’s Red Meet was won handily by Coach Annie Bennett’s Wake team. Michael Bingham won the 60 (6.96) and 200 (21.33) for the Deacons and was 2nd to teammate Jonathan Reid (47.59-48.10) in the 400.
Maduka’s triple win was not enough to defeat Wake in the women’s Green Meet. That one came down to the concluding 4x4, which WF won over Virginia (3:48.26-3:50.91) to clinch the win. Wake scored 68 points, UVA 63, Cornell 55 and Columbia 35.
Morgane Gay had an impressive win for Virginia in the 800 in 2:08.79. In the 3k, Columbia’s Meaghan Lessard ran 9:29.92.
The women’s Blue Meet was won by Coach Gwen Harris’s Penn Quakers over Maryland, 77-72. The Terps’ Michelle Fedrick won a fast 400 over Nicole Burns of Brown, 54.41-55.32, and her teammate, Ashley Williams, won the weight throw in 60-2. /JP/