By wpengine
This Sunday the Red runners are headed to Cambridge for a three-team meet with Harvard and Brown. The last time these three teams faced each other, photo finishes were frequent, with just a mere three points separating the three schools’ point totals. “I’d have to imagine from almost everyone’s perspective that Harvard is the team to beat. They are fast as ever, with the help of some excellent international recruits, and the fact that they are more rested than their two competitors, they will be a tough team to beat”, explained Red coach Nathan Taylor. Taylor stressed, “Track is a sport with a great focus on individual events, and it will take great performances in every single event to defeat Harvard on the road.” The Red is led by several strong underclassmen runners who are part of last year’s class of recruits which Taylor describes as “the best freshman class of runners in the history of Cornell”. Almost 80% of the Red runners are freshmen and sophomores. Last season, the men were simply on top of their respective games, and their final ranking of 24th in the nation was icing on the cake. “Last year we graduated two of the best hurdlers Cornell as ever seen and it will be hard to fill that gap in our roster, no matter how spectacular our freshmen perform, and they have been spectacular,” Taylor said. Because Taylor has such a young squad with big shoes to fill, he is focusing on “milking every athlete on the squad to get them to perform to their maximum ability.” The men are fueled by laudable performances. In last week’s four-team meet, junior Jeremy Blanchet set a Cornell school record with a 35-pound weight throw of 60-6. Blanchet’s toss also landed him with the ninth best toss in division history. Junior Brett Coffing also excelled at shot-put, throwing his way to a first place finish and securing a sweep in the shot-put events. This Sunday’s meet at Cambridge will be a true test for the Red’s talented core of young tracksters. Jason Hart and Ethan Albrecht-Carrie have dually impressed their coach with dramatic improvements in their respective events since last year. “Those two sophomores have really, I mean really impressed me with some serious improvement since last season. They are hard working kids and are improving leaps and bounds.”Archived article by Adam Zwecker
By wpengine
Cornell wrestling will host No. 20 Hofstra tonight at 7 p.m. in Newman Arena. This is the first time that the Red will be at home this year for a dual meet after traveling all over the country the past few months. Head coach Rob Koll’s troops have touched down in Chicago, Dallas, and Las Vegas for large collegiate invitational tournaments thus far this 2001-02 campaign. The Red is coming into tonight’s dual match off a big victory in the New York State Championships in Oswego, NY. After finishing second to the Red in the overall team standings last weekend, Hofstra will be anxious to exact revenge. But it will have to overcome Cornell’s six New York State Champions. 125-pound freshman and No. 18 Travis Lee, 133-pound sophomore Alejandro Alvarez, 157-pound senior Gabe Webster, 165-pound sophomore Scott Roth, 174-pound senior and No. 10 Jim Stanec, and 184-pound classmate and No. 9 Clint Wattenberg all found the victory podium. Even with a victory over the Pride last weekend, the Red remains unranked and looks to crack the national polls with another victory. In order for that to happen, Koll said, “We need to be consistent.” Consistency is something that the Red will look to obtain with another victory over the Pride. Meanwhile, Hofstra, the 2001 East Coast Wrestling Association Champions, will try to break up this effort with 2 of their own crowned champions from last weekend: 149-pound senior and No. 14 Jason DeBruin and 197-pound freshman and No. 9 Chris Skretkowicz. “I would much rather be on our end,” said Koll when asked about the mental advantage in having just defeated Hofstra. There will be two matches to keep an eye upon. The first will feature Lee and No. 16 sophomore Tom Noto at the 125-pound weight class. At the 197-pound weight class, No. 14 junior Matt Greenberg will grapple with Skretkowicz. These are the two matches that will pit two nationally ranked wrestlers. “You have to beat him [Skretkowicz] on your feet. He is real long and goes after your legs,” said Greenberg. Skretkowicz, a solid performer on the mat, has had the better of the 2 earlier meetings between the two, but Greenberg vowed to make his own dent in the season series tonight. 141-pound junior Casey Becker, 149-pound senior Chris Pirch, and heavyweight senior Sean Wing all figure to tangle with the Pride tonight in addition to the rest of the squad. “This will be a battle for No. 1 in New York State,” concluded Koll. Archived article by Donald Lee