Sayville, keep an eye on the pool at SUNY Cortland — one of our own is making waves there.

Grace Cullen, Sayville High School Class of 2026, is off to a fast start in her freshman season with the Cortland Red Dragons. In Saturday’s dual meet at the University of Rochester, Grace won both breaststroke events — the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:08.97 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:27.54 — two of Cortland’s three event victories on the day. She also swam a leg of Cortland’s second-place 200-yard medley relay. Cortland fell to Rochester, 199–100, but Grace’s double win was the Red Dragons’ highlight.

It picks up right where she left off at Sayville. A five-year member of the SayBayBlue swim program, Grace won the Suffolk County championship in the 100 breaststroke in 2025, earned All-State honors, All-County honors three years running, and All-League honors five straight years — and she was named the team’s Most Dedicated Swimmer in 2024.

And swimming is only part of her story. Grace also played four years of flag football on Sayville teams that won Suffolk County and Long Island championships in 2024 and 2025, ran track for a league-title team, and still found time for the National Honor Society and the high honor roll. This year she received the Buck Mackenzie Award and the Section XI Golden Key Award. At Cortland, she’s studying Physical Education — a future coach in the making, perhaps.

Congratulations, Grace — Sayville is proud of you, and we’ll be following the Red Dragons all season. Cortland returns to action November 7 at Ithaca.

(Results and biography: SUNY Cortland Athletics — cortlandreddragons.com.)