On the heels of impressive victories for both the men’s and women’s track teams at the Upstate Challenge, this weekend the Red will travel to Cambridge, Mass. where the squad will compete in a dual meet against Harvard and Brown.
A year ago at the meet, the Cornell women cruised to victory, accumulating more than twice as many points as either of their competitors. The men’s team finished a single point behind first-place Brown.
[img_assist|nid=20942|title=Speedy|desc=Senior co-captain Kolby Hoover runs in the Upstate Challenge last Saturday.|link=none|align=left|width=68|height=100]
Last year the women were led by sophomore Jeomi Maduka and junior Sheeba Ibidunni, who each won two events.
“It’s a big track,” said senior co-captain Cameron Washington. “Their track is a little bit faster than ours so the times will be a little bit better.”
The meet this weekend will be Cornell’s first Ivy League competition and its second scored meet of the year, the first being the Upstate Challenge last weekend.
“I think our team progress has been great,” Washington said. “We have a relatively new team. With every match, we are becoming more comfortable and becoming more confident. We just go out there and want to have fun.”
When asked if she expects a repeat of last year’s team performance by the women, Washington was confident in her squad’s abilities.
“I expect us to dominate once again,” she said.
The men’s team is hoping that a strong team performance can help subdue memories of the disappointing one point loss from 2006. Last year, junior Jimmy Wyner, Gordon Hall ’06 and seniors David Pell and Evan Whitehall each won individual events for the Red, while Nathan Crabtree was the only freshman to compete in the 60-meter dash. This year, Crabtree will once again participate in the 60-meter dash as well as the 4×400 relay. With regards to the necessary strategy for improving, Crabtree discussed his hard work away from the track.
“[To improve] you have to lift more, lift harder and do all the little things,” he said. “I’d love to see our team win this week and we have a great team, but it’s more important that we stay healthy and perform well.”
While he claims that winning is not the team’s top priority for the weekend, last year’s narrow defeat still lingers in the minds of many.
“All the guys who are returning [from last year] are looking for a little revenge,” Crabtree said.