September 14, 2010

Cross Country Teams Cruise to Victory Over Army

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One word –– “dominant” –– sums up the men’s and women’s cross country teams’ performances in the first meet of the 2009-10 campaign against Army. In the women’s meet, the Red swept the Black Knights, capturing the first ten places in the meet. The men’s team faired just as well, taking ten of the first thirteen slots in its race. Racing in cool weather on West Point’s cross country course, which includes the Army golf course and the Victor Constant ski slope, a large pack of the Cornell women’s team took control of the race early on.  “Our two seniors did a very nice job; Kristy Sellers and Maura Carroll did very well.  Maura led the group off the starting line and Kristy really led the charge up the slope,” said head coach Lou Duesing.The Red never looked back; freshman Devin McMahon passed Carroll and Sellers to win the 6K race in a time of 21:02. Sellers finished second for the Red, recording a personal best of 21:08 while Carroll finished close behind in 21:22, also a personal best. The rest of Cornell’s top-5 posted personal bests in the 6K as well; sophomore Cara Costich finished in 21:37 and junior Janel Parker ran it in 21:38 to round out the scoring, and provide the Cornell women with a substantial 50-15 victory.“And that was without our top four returning runners….I thought Army would be better than they were. They were second last year in the Patriot league, and looking back at last year’s results and the returning runners this year, we though this would be a very close race,” Duesing said.   The men’s race opened in a similar fashion to the women’s’ as seniors Adrien Dannemiller and Nate Edelman led a pack of Cornell men throughout the seminal stages of the race. However, at the three-mile mark of the 8K race, Dannemiller and Edelman raced ahead of the pack. The two ran neck and neck for the rest of the race, with Dannemiller ultimately winning in 25:23; Edelman finished just four seconds behind in 25:27. Underclassmen led the rest of the top-5 Red through the finish; sophomore Adam Trofa finished sixth for the Red, while sophomore Brett Kelly finished a place behind in 25:54. Freshman Gabe Heck placed eigth behind the sophomore duo in 25:56. The Red will next take on Syracuse and Colgate this Saturday at the Colgate Invitational. Like the meet against Army, the Colgate meet will be another early-season meet to assess the overall fitness and positioning of the Red runners within each team. However, Coach Duesing and the Cornell women are expecting the Colgate Invitational to boast considerably more competition.“Right now, Syracuse is ranked No. 10 in the nation and they have pretty much everyone returning [from last year]….this meet will be a good early season test to check on how we’re doing,” Duesing said. Like Syracuse, the Red will be racing its entire top-7; thus, Saturday will provide a comparison between the Cornell women and last year’s NCAA Regional champion. Judging by Cornell’s performance at Army, the difference between the two might not be as large as one would think.

Original Author: Nathan Lowry