With the pole vaulters leading the way, Cornell’s men’s and women’s track teams turned in strong performances at the Kane Invitational. For the women, senior Jamie Reed set the school record pole vault with a height of 11-5 3/4, beating her old record by four inches, and finishing second in the event. On the men’s side, Scott Lundy set the school record with a vault of 16-6 3/4, and Travis Offner set a freshman record at 16-3 3/4.
The invitational had more than 700 athletes representing 17 different schools, so in winning 8 individual events, the women turned in an excellent effort. The Big Red took a 1-2-3 sweep in the 3,000-meter race, led by freshman Jessica Parrott with a time of 10:12.72. Christian Diaz (10:23.03) and Carlan Gray (10:26.48) finished second and third, respectively.
Another 1-2-3 Cornell sweep occurred in the mile run. MaryAnn Totino won with a time of 5:20.64, as Larissa Bifano finished second with a time of 5:24.35 and Christine Eckstaedt was third with 5:27.10.
In the 800-meter event, Cornell claimed five of the top six spots, and senior Kim Chatman won the race with a time of 2:16.86. In the 1000-meter, Lena Mathews won with a time of 2:58.09 and Natalie Whelan placed third, finishing at 3:02.11.
The sprinters played a role as well. Conniel Arnold won the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.94, while Merili Mosley won the 60-hurdles in 9.07. Ann Hansgate came from behind to steal the 500-meter race in a time of 1:18.99.
The eighth victory of the day came from the 4×400 relay, which crushed the second place team by more than eight seconds and took the event in a time of 4:00.55.
On the men’s side, victories were scattered across the team. In the field events, Jeremy Blanchet won the weight throw with a distance of 58-4 1/2 and Brett Coffing won the shot put with a toss of 51-7 3/4. In the high jump, senior Pete Ippel won with a height of 6-7.
As for the running events, Matt Murnan won the 400-meter in 49.78, and anchored the Big Red winning 4×400 relay team, which won in 3:22.68.
A sweep of the top five spots occurred in the mile run, as the Big Red dominated the event under a 4:17.42 winning time of Max King. John Corley (4:17.46), Chris Dupont (4.17.92), Dan Meehan (4:19.4) and Andrew Boone (4:20.3) rounded out the rest of the victorious runners.
Both teams will compete next weekend at the Heptagonal championships, which will be held at Harvard University.
Archived article by Jon Goldberg