HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana junior Rodney Ruffin erased one of the Lions' oldest outdoor track and field records at the Southeastern-Southern Dual Meet at the Southeastern Track Complex on Friday.

    Ruffin jumped 26 feet, 7 inches in the long jump, breaking the old mark of 26-02.5 set by Donald Dykes on March 1, 1977 at a SLU-Southern meet. The 41-year-old record was the third-oldest in the Lions' ledger, topped only Phil Taul's 1974 mark in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Greg Lawrence's 1976 standard in the 110-meter hurdles.

    "Honestly, it didn't even feel like it was going to be a big jump," Ruffin said. "Everything during the run just felt nice and easy and I just came off the board in a good position so whenever I took off, it didn't even feel like I was flying that far until I hit the ground."

    Southeastern senior Cliff Reisas (10.34 seconds) and junior Jebarri Cumberbatch set personal bests in going one-two in the 100 meters. Cumberbatch went on to take the 200 in a personal-best 21.34. Freshman Anthony Cordero raced to a win in the 1,500 in 3:59.64 while sophomore Justin Taylor (14.53) and junior Brian Donna (14.79) went one-two in the 110 hurdles. Senior Albert Martinez was second in the 400 hurdles (54.94). Junior Devin Dixon set a pair of personal bests in the 100 (10.80) and 200 (21.80).

    The 4x100 relay of Cumberbatch, Resias, Robinson and Ruffin won in 41.07 while the 4x400 of senior Tajh Lewis, freshman Tahrike Jones, sophomore Gerald Coleman and Resias took first in 3:22.31.

    Former Lions Maverick Bowleg (48.58) and Andre Colebrook (53.29) captured the 400 and 400 hurdles, respectively, running unattached.

    In the field events, freshman Adam Pennington (15-01) and senior Brandon Hollier (14-01.25) swept the top two spots in the pole vault. Junior Stevon Crooks took both the shot put (53-09) and discus (157-05) while junior Michael Seither (184-3) was the hammer throw champion. Freshman Malik Burns was second in the shot put (46-06.75).

    Senior Daijah Washington (11.81) and freshman Kendesha Ingraham (12.08) captured the top two spots in the 100 for the Lady Lions while Ingraham (24.70) was also second in the 200. Junior Milica Ozegovic grabbed second in the 400 in a personal-best 56.38.

    Freshman Sophie Daigle also set a personal best in winning the 800 in 2:24.77 with senior Clarissa Smith second in 2:29.03. Freshmen Breanna Bernard (38:16.33) and Tara Stuntz (40:09.99) took the top spots in the 10,000. Freshman Sophia Huegel added a win in the 100 hurdles in 14.77.

    The 4x100 relay of Washington, junior Aareion Jackson, Ingraham and freshman Taylor Mumford won in a season-best 46.35. Junior De'Kayta Alex, Ozegovic and freshman Jacquelyn Walker and Lindsey Hutcheson captured the 4x400 in 4:02.98.

    Freshman Katherine Strahan cleared 5-1 to win the high jump. Sophomore Ashley Davis (45-06.25) and junior Alexis Stein (41-01.5) went one-two in the shot put. Stein also won the discus (157-9). Sophomore Vigdis Jonsdittir threw a career-best 196-05 for first in the hammer with senior Natalia Redondo second at 188.8.  

    Ruffin missed the majority of the 2017 outdoor season and the 2018 indoor campaign with tendinitis in his left knee. He came back last week to record four jumps over 7 meters (23 feet) at the Louisiana Classics. He followed that with three more jumps of 7-meters-plus on Friday before hitting the record breaker.

    "We're super excited for this young man after he's struggled with injuries," Southeastern head coach Corey Mistretta said. "Before the injury, he was jumping real far for us. He broke the indoor school record for us (in the high jump). That puts you on a national level going into the indoor nationals so we were really excited about that for him two years ago. Then he ended up getting injured and then trying to come back and it not working. Last week, finally after 13 months, having a full series of over 7 meters in the long jump was very encouraging. Today, coming in with a nice little tailwind and having the series he had today which was outstanding and breaking our outdoor school record is just really encouraging and good for him."

    Southeastern will be back in action at the Texas Relays which run Wednesday through Saturday at the University of Texas in Austin. Another group of student-athletes will be heading to the Southern Miss Invitational Saturday in Hattiesburg, Miss.