Track Attempts to Carry Momentum Into Heps

The men’s and women’s track teams will face their final sprint this week before the start of the Indoor Championship season, which will commence with the Cornell-hosted Heptagonal Championships.
“One of our goals for the year is to win Heps and be Ivy League Champions,” said junior Jimmy Wyner. “We want to keep improving and become one of the most recognized teams in the league.”
The men have continually showed their improvement throughout the year and this trend continued to prove true last weekend when they brought a small cohort to the Lafayette-Rider Invitational at the Armory and produced two event victories and seven IC4A qualifiers. The Red then came back to Ithaca to compete in the 20-team field at the Robert J. Kane Invitational where they produced 16 IC4A qualifiers and nine event wins.
The Red swept the top-3 places of the 400, which was lead by senior tri-captain Adam Seabrook’s 48.11. Junior Zach Hine won the 3000 with a 8:15.38 for Cornell’s other event win.
The Red also swept the top-2 positions in the high jump with standout junior Garrett Huyler winning the event with a 6-10 3/4 and junior Jim Smith coming in second with a 6-8 1/4.
Senior Saidu Ezike ran an 8.10 to win the 60 hurdles.
Senior tri-captain Muhammad Halim continued his dominant performance this season with another NCAA provisional qualifying performance with his season-best 52-8 in the triple jump.
Halim, Seabrook, Huyler, Ezike and senior co-captain Aaron Merrill have all had great individual performances this year and will be leading the Red into the Indoor Championship season.
Heps are hosted by Cornell this season and the Red is now looking forward to the opportunity to play for the Ivy League crown in their very own backyard.[img_assist|nid=27994|title=Flying high|desc=The men’s and women’s track teams are excited about their prospects in the upcoming Hetagonal Championships.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
“Track is a very long season and we have to take it one meet at a time,” said men’s head coach Nathan Taylor. “We hope to challenge for Heps, IC4A and NCAA. The guys are really looking forward to Heps since we’re hosting this year.”
The women have the same optimism for the Indoor Championships this season as well, especially after their 16 event wins at the Robert J. Kane Invitational included 15 ECAC qualifying performances.
Freshman Cassilyn Schweighofer has improved dramatically so far this season in the shot put, culminating in a 45-4 1/2 final round throw which gave her the win, an ECAC qualifying performance and the No. 7 performance all-time at Cornell.
Senior tri-captain Joan Casey had another ECAC qualifying performance as she won the 60 hurdles with an 8.76 which places her 4th all-time at Cornell. Casey has been a great all-around performer this season. She demonstrated this with her 36-9 to win the triple jump, her second win of the day, and her third place finish in the long jump with an 18-9 1/4. Casey also had top three finishes in the 60 hurdles, triple jump and long jump two weeks ago at the Cornell Open, as well as a win in the hurdles.
Senior tri-captains Anjelica Gregory and Maria Telloni also had strong finishes for the Red with Gregory winning the 600 with a 1:35.55 and Telloni throwing a season-best 44-6 1/4 in the shot put. All three tri-captains have performed well so far this season and look forward to keeping the momentum as they head into the indoor playoff season.
“We want to keep the momentum, continue to improve, and expand on all the positives we’ve had so far this season,” said women’s head coach Lou Duesing.