Cella McLaughlin’s high school track & field career was largely about celebrating good times. Times that set records and secured state championships in companion with an unparalleled career in the long jump among Section 4 girls.
For her efforts, the just-graduated Corning-Painted Post High School star has been named Elmira Star-Gazette/Corning Leader Female Athlete of the Year for the 2025-26 school year.
McLaughlin, who is headed to the University of Pittsburgh to continue her track & field career, was a repeat state champion during both the winter indoor season and the spring outdoor season.
All this from a two-time qualifier for the New York state championships in diving who originally wasn’t going to compete in track & field. Her mom signed her up and Cella never looked back.
“I did not want to do track and I really thought it was going to be something to keep me in shape, like a lot of people,” McLaughlin said before competing at states this year. “I would have never expected to make it this far.”
She won the Class A outdoor state championship in the girls long jump in June with a top effort of 19 feet, 11.25 inches that eclipsed her own Section 4 record.
That weekend also saw McLaughlin claim the Class A title in the girls 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.09 seconds. The next day, McLaughlin finished second in the overall 100 hurdles championship race with a time of 13.76.
McLaughlin capped the outdoor season by finishing ninth in the 100 hurdles with a semifinal time of 13.80 at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor in Philadelphia. She just missed reaching the eight-runner final, with two girls ahead of her finishing in 13.79. McLaughlin finished 30th there in the long jump (18 feet, 10 inches).
Earlier in the season, McLaughlin ran a career-best 100 hurdles time of 13.48 seconds at the Loucks Games in White Plains. No other girl in Section 4 history has come close.
She added a Section 4 record this season in the 100-meter dash (11.92 seconds), an event she decided to forego at states because of how the weekend’s schedule broke down.
During the indoor season, McLaughlin was a repeat winner of the girls 55 hurdles at the state meet with a time of 7.89 seconds, just off her section record of 7.86. McLaughlin placed second in the state in the indoor long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 6.75 inches.
Corning head coach Ray Lawson agreed with assistant Tom Ketchum putting McLaughlin on the Mount Rushmore of Corning track & field athletes. For a program that has produced nearly 40 state titles in track & field and cross country, that says a great deal.
“In her specialty of the 55 hurdles, the 100 hurdles, the long jump, and even into the sprints into the 100, 200, the relay she was on, just so dominant,” Lawson said.
“What we love as coaches is that she continued to improve each year, that she trained the right way. We knew she had an immense talent as a freshman and sophomore, but she really bought into the training and to making sure she was lifting and she was doing the things she needed to do to get more explosive, more powerful, and really develop the natural gifts she has.”
Lawson praised McLaughlin’s ability to handle the stress of the sport and adapt without blinking an eye if things outside her control didn’t go exactly as planned.
The manner in which McLaughlin has succeeded perhaps says more about her than the success.
“She really is just a great representative of Corning in terms of her good sportsmanship and always approaching things the right way,” Lawson said.
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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Corning track star named Star-Gazette/Leader Female Athlete of Year
Reporting by Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
