September 25, 2000

Cross Country Dominates Races

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Home certainly is sweet.

Cornell used its home course and depth to its advantage to overpower less-skilled opponents en route to big wins for both the women’s and men’s teams.

Both squads toppled Binghamton, Cortland and LeMoyne.

The women’s team had an incredible weekend, taking not only all of the top five spots, but actually all of the top ten spots and 15 of the top 16 times.

“Binghamton, Cortland and LeMoyne aren’t great teams,” women’s head coach Lou Duesing said of the Red’s opponents.

He added that Cornell’s dominance was more important than just the win. Times are improving for the women.

“I’m very pleased with how people ran. The top six or seven of our runners who ran for us last year are faster than what they ran last year on our track,” Duesing said. “That’s nice to see.”

Freshman Jessica Parrott finished second this week, after finishing first at the Army meet. The young runner continues to show her dominance and show people what she can do.

“I continue to be impressed by [Parrott],” Duesing commented.

Another good sign for the women was the victory by senior co-captain Meredith Freimer. This was the first win for the senior. She crossed the line in 18:55.

Kim Chatman, Lena Matthews and Stephanie Anderson rounded out the top five for the Red.

All in all, the coach was impressed with his squad.

“We’re doing well and working hard. It all showed in the race.”

The Cornell men’s team showed its dominance not by how its top men raced, but by how its top men didn’t race.

The men sat their top ten runners against Binghamton, Cortland and LeMoyne, and still managed to take first in the competition.

Junior Brook Dannemiller was the first person to finish for the Red, crossing the line in second-place overall with a time of 26:52. He was eleven seconds behind top-finisher Matt Dresser of Binghamton.

Cornell runner Steve McClearn came in third and Geoff King finished fifth.

The Red teams will all get another week of this next week, rather than competing at Iona as they had planned. The squads will then travel to Lehigh to compete on October 7th.

Archived article by Charles Persons