CP Sports B3sports editor brian cremo ▪friday, march 4, 2011 ▪ sports@cardinalpointsonline.com

Scott aiming for PSUC record booksBy Dan DeFrancesco

staff writer

It all started with a record board and a goal.

Dustin Scott passed it every day on his way to practice.

Six-feet-3-inches: Darrin Rathbun-High Jump.

The record had stood for 27 years. In the small town of Ticonderoga, where ev-eryone knows everyone, Scott had heard plenty about Rathbun. All of his teachers would tell him about how great of an athlete he was. His father, Toby, had even gone to school with him.

Scott respected Rathbun’s record, but 27 years is a long time. Records are meant to be broken after all.

At a state qualifying meet for outdoor track during his senior year, Scott jumped 6-feet-4-inches, a full two inches above his previous best and one inch better than Rathbun. Scott went on to place fifth in Division II and make one minor design change to Ticonderoga High School.

Six-feet-4-inches: Dustin Scott-High Jump. And Scott had picked up the sport just a year earlier.

During his junior year at Ticonderoga High School, he grew tired of playing basket-ball and decided to go out for the school’s track and field team.

Originally pegged by his coach as a sprinter, Scott had other ideas. A natural jumper

from his days playing basket-ball, Scott asked his coach if he could high jump. His coach initially refused until Scott pushed the issue so much that he gave him a chance.

On Scott’s first attempt, he jumped higher than the team’s best high jumper.

“It looked like it was fun,” Scott said. “It was something new. I had never seen it be-

fore, but I knew I could do it.”Scott would go on to win his

section’s high jump champi-onship in the indoor and out-door season in his first year of competition. It was at this point Scott realized he had a true passion for the sport and wanted to learn more. He de-cided to go to a camp held at St. Lawrence University dur-ing the summer before his senior year.

“I was working a lot more on my technique, lifting more and eating healthy,” Scott said. “I came into my senior year a lot more dedi-cated — I knew this was what I wanted to do.”

By the end of his senior year, Scott was getting of-fers from several colleges to jump at their schools. His mind, however, was already made up. He wanted to at-tend Plattsburgh State along with his twin brother Devin. There, the twins would go to

school with their half-broth-er Scott Wolff.

On Aug. 14, 2009, less than a month before Scott would leave for Plattsburgh, Wolff was admitted to CVPH Medical Cen-ter for bruises he had found on his arm. Five days later he passed away. A rare form of Leukemia took Wolff’s life, one of the fastest working cases the doctors had ever seen. Devastated, Scott took the first semester off.

Scott returned to the team in January and managed to earn a second place finish in SUNYACs. He was still unsat-isfied and continued work-ing on his weaknesses while asking advice from other jumpers at events.

The hard work paid off as Scott earned his first career win in the RPI Outdoor Early Invitational. He went on to

win SUNYACs and qualify for ECACs in his freshman year.

“I guess it was a big deal for a freshman to win,” Scott said. “It was a team win,

so that’s all I care about.”

For a sport that’s based on individual accomplishments, teamwork wouldn’t seem to factor in at all. Scott, on the oth-er hand, thrives on it, consistently work-

ing with his brother. The two have competed together since their senior year, when Devin decided to pick up the sport after he saw his broth-er compete. Devin credits his brother for teaching him ev-erything he knows regarding high jump.

“It’s pretty fun because he is always there to support me, and he is always push-ing me,” Devin said. “We are always pushing each other.”

As the indoor season comes to a close and the out-door season begins, Scott has a few goals set for himself.

First, he would like to qualify for Nationals by jumping 6-feet-7.5-inches at ECACs this weekend in New York City. Scott’s best jump this season was 6-feet-6-inches at the St. Lawrence Invitational at the end of January. The height is not out of Scott’s range though, ac-cording to PSUC jumps coach Nick Jones.

“Over at SUNYACs, he got over the bar, but he managed to brush it,” Jones said. “He’s very close.”

Scott would like to do the same come outdoor. A jump of 6-feet-7.5-inches would not only qualify him for Na-tionals but come with an added bonus: breaking Rod Galster’s 36-year-old PSUC high-jump record.

Different board, same goal.

Gabe Dickens/Cardinal PointsDustin Scott has persevered through hardship to get where he is today as PSUC’s No. 1 jumper. He’s now eyeing Rod Galster’s high-jump record.

Heymann sets SUNYAC recordBy Pat Moore

staff writer

As the indoor portion of the track and field season winds down, the Plattsburgh State men’s and women’s track and field teams are now prepared to compete in the ECAC Indoor Championships Satur-day and Sunday in New York City.

“I’m excited for ECACs, and I think both teams are prepared to compete,” PSUC Head Coach John Lynch said. “We still have a few more people on both teams I’m hoping will make it to nation-als. We’ve had several already qualify, and we’ve got a few more people just on the edge. I’m hoping they can earn a spot as well.”

The Cards previously competed in the SUNYAC Championships, held Feb. 26 at Hobart and William Smith College.

“I thought that our men and women did real well last weekend,” Lynch said. “Both teams we’re focused, and I’m re-ally proud with the way both teams performed. We had athletes setting new personal records and breaking champi-onship records.”

The men placed sixth overall at the SUNYAC Championships. The Cards were led by top finisher Mike Heymann, who won the 5,000-meter run with an NCAA Provisional time of 14:43.98. Heymann’s time broke a 25-year-old championship meet record by 15 sec-onds.

He finished 40 seconds ahead of the rest of the runners.

“Nobody wanted to race against Mike,” Lynch said. “He took it from the gun and

never looked back. Breaking a 25-year-old record is a great accomplishment. I was very impressed.”

Heymann was not surprised with his performance, and said his time was ac-tually 15 seconds slower than his per-sonal record.

“Going after the record was never my goal,” Heymann said. “I was focused on scoring points for our team. I’m happy I broke the record, but I’m even happier with the points I scored.”

James Biondi also ran in the 5,000 and scored points for PSUC, taking 6th place with a time of 15:35.62.

Nate Williams finished eighth overall in the 200-meter dash with an ECAC-qualifying time of 23.00.

Six turned out to be PSUC’s lucky number Feb. 26, with sev-eral athletes picking up sixth place finishes. Bobby Grim fin-ished sixth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:56.90. The 4x400 relay team of Ben Depo, Kevin Mercer, Williams and Pe-ter Hamm finished sixth with a time of 3:30.76. The distance medley team of Josh Mitchell, Trevor Kent, Bobby Smith and Justin Harrington also took sixth with a time of 10:49.92.

In field events, Dustin Scott finished second with an ECAC-qualifying mark of 1.97 meters in the high jump. Devin Scott took fifth place with a mark of 1.87 meters in the same event.

Peter Hamm also qualified for

ECACs in the long jump, reaching a mark of 6.87 meters.

The women’s team also placed sixth at SUNYACs. The women were led by Amy McCasland.

She finished first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.50, and fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:21.18. Both were ECAC-qualifying times.

McCasland was also a part of the 4x400 relay team of Jenni-fer Risler, Joanne TeRiele, and Mahalia Ewers that finished first in the event with a time of 4:02.75.

Ewers and Risler also earned points in the 400-meter dash, with Ewers finishing third overall in 1:00.15. Risler took fifth in the event with a time of 1:01.31.

Amanda Schermerhorn set a new personal record in the mile run, taking third place in 5:09.24.

Schermerhorn also compet-ed with the distance medley team of Jasmine Boncore, Brit-tany Mailander and Stefanie

Braun that finished third.Julia Warren earned an ECAC-qualify-

ing time in the 5,000-meter run, finish-ing third with a time of 18:22.88.

In the 3,000-meter run, Kelley Driscoll (5th place, 10:41.73) and Colleen Coon (6th place, 10:42.83) both posted ECAC-qualifying times.

Dionne White took fourth in the long jump with a mark of 5.18 meters, and fifth in the high jump with a 1.51 meters mark.

Heymann

Jones

Lynch