By JACQUELYNN JONES
This past Friday, the Cornell men’s and women’s cross country teams wrapped up their regular seasons as they hosted the 28th annual John Reif Memorial meet. The meet was held in honor of a former team member, John Reif, who passed in a tragic cycling accident after graduation in the mid 1980’s. Competitors met under clear skies Friday afternoon as they took to Moakley course at Cornell for the non-team scored meet, which featured runners from Cornell, Syracuse and Cortland, as well as several post-collegiate and unattached athletes from other regional schools.
The men’s team competed in two events on Friday. The squad kicked off the event with a 5K race, which was followed by the five mile run. The Red dominated the 5k run as they took the top- eight spots and 15 of the top-20 overall. Freshman Alex Clapacs had a breakout performance, winning the race with a 16:19.40 finish. Senior Sebastian Roemer and freshman Tim Boston finished right behind him in 16:27.40 and 16:27.90, respectively.
At the same time, the Cornell women’s squad was also finding success on the course. Red All-American Rachel Sorna ‘14 made her post-collegiate racing debut in fine fashion, taking first place in the women’s 5K with a time of 17:22.1.
Junior Meghan McCormick improved upon her results from last year by nearly 30 seconds for a 12th place finish. (Connor Archard / Sun Sports Photography Editor).