By wpengine September 30, 2002
The men’s and women’s cross country teams ventured away from campus this weekend, off to the Iona Meet of Champions at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. The ladies raced themselves to a sixth-place finish in the 26-team field, a respectable finish, but not quite up to Cornell’s standards. “There were individuals that really ran well,” said head coach Lou Duesing. But, he added, “As a group, for whatever reason, we were a little bit off.” Missouri took top honors in the meet with Wake Forest in second, followed by Division II powerhouse Adams State. Dartmouth and Yale rounded out the top five. All of the schools were placed below the Red in the most recent national poll. There were several bright spots for the Red. “[Junior] Jessica Parrot did the best job of the front-runners for us,” Duesing said. She didn’t get distracted. “After the half-way point, she did a good job,” he concluded. He noted senior Sara Karam and freshman Emily McCabe for their overall improvement from their first races and also pointed to sophomore Jenn Meil for a good performance. Junior Christine Ecksaedt produced one of the best all-around races on the team he said. Despite some positive individual performances though, the team’s results were disappointing. “I thought we let a good opportunity slip away,” said Duesing. The team, running in its first big race of the year, couldn’t get a good position early in the race, and by the time the runners recovered it was too late. “Because we didn’t get a good start we suffered from it,” said Duesing. “People gauged where they were [in the field] from teammates,” he explained, and they didn’t quite run their best race as a result. The race doesn’t bode ill for the team in the long run though. It’s still early in the season, and it provides and important lesson. Duesing pointed to several valuable facets of the Red’s performance in the race. It shows the importance of getting into position earlier in the race, going out of with confidence and performing to one’s utmost capability. Furthermore Duesing expressed his confidence that the team would bounce back from the disappointment because of its training and because of its guts. “I liked the way they came away talking to them.” They’ve learned a lot, he continued, and that knowledge will be valuable down the road in more important races. “For us, the championships are at the end of the season. Everything else is a prelude.” Men’s distance coach Robert Johnson echoed that final thought from Duesing in his remarks about the men’s race over the weekend. For the men, this race was all about putting up a good performance and gaining experience, one more step building towards the end of the season. “I paid almost no attention to the team competition,” said Johnson. “Time spent worrying about other teams is time wasted.” “It was all about improvement. It showed that we’ve improved.” Senior captain Dan Dombroski highlighted the Red’s performance at Iona with a 10th-place finish in the 263 runner field. “Dan had a fantastic race,” beamed Johnson. “I knew he was in great shape going into the race,” he said, adding that Dombroski’s performance still surprised him. Johnson pointed to several other runners as key performers in the meet. Sophomores Emory Mort and Oliver Tassinari both put in solid runs, finishing in the team’s third and sixth positions, respectively. Senior captain Geoff Van Fleet made his return to competition after an almost two-year-long absence from cross country at the hands of an Achilles injury. “To see him out there competing really made my day,” said Johnson. The coach also pointed to sophomore standout Bruce Hyde, the team’s second finisher, for his competitiveness, if not his pacing. “He really went out and made an effort to run with the best,” Johnson said. The team will need that kind of spirit, combined with responsibility, in the weeks to come. “While I was pleased, we really have a long way to go,” said Johnson. “There’s no room for complacency, and the guys know that.” So, the team’s rest after the race won’t last long. It’s time, as Johnson said, “to start pounding.” “They improved in a really tough position,” Johnson said, at a big meet. But they still need to get better. Archived article by Matt James
By wpengine September 30, 2002
Rhapsody, the School of Hotel Administration’s student-run restaurant formerly known as Themes, Cuisines and Beyond (TCAB), celebrated its grand opening last Monday. Rhapsody, run by students of the hotel school’s restaurant management class (HA 305) offers “fresh food with a global beat” in a fast-casual dining environment. The theme “Rhapsody” reflects the diversity and creativity of the students running the restaurant. The menu features a variety of fresh ethnic foods including Szechwan Don Don Noodles and Spanikopita, served with tzatziki and stuffed grape leaves, according to Barbara Lang, lecturer. The menu also features “fresh favorites” such as Cajun cole slaw, sweet potato fries with a Hawaiian barbecue dipping sauce and warm cookies served with milk. The musical term “rhapsody” is a blending of musical styles within the same composition, Lang said. “The musical analogy reflects the restaurant’s food, a variety of diverse ethnic foods, designed and prepared by an international team of students, all under one restaurant concept,” she continued. “Although the general theme is a casual fast service restaurant, the food quality and presentation is way above that of fast food,” said Vivian Kuo ’03, a teaching assistant. One diner, Suvarna Sampale ’03, said she had trouble deciding what to order because “there were so many tantalizing options to choose from.” “We finally decided upon an overflowing basket of warm nachos accompanied by a tangy, spicy three bean salsa and a hearty guacamole,” Sampale said. Every year, the hotel school’s restaurant management class develops a branded concept within the first four weeks of class, Lang said. By the fifth week, the students are running a full-service restaurant. The restaurant management course emphasizes experimental learning, as the restaurant is managed and run each evening by 30 students each night, four evenings a week, said Lang. The class consists of about 120 students who take turns running the restaurant from three to 10 p.m. each operating evening. In addition to working one night a week at the restaurant, each student engages in a “management experience” where students can hone their skills and develop more knowledge in a specific disciple such as marketing, human resources management and information technology. Each night, three different students take on the roles of dining room manager, kitchen service manager, and production manager, overseeing the restaurant and its entire operation from supervising servers and ensuring efficient service to monitoring the quality of food and its preparation. Whereas TCAB in the past catered to the upscale customer with the check averaging over $20 per person, Rhapsody’s fast-casual dining environment is a less formal atmosphere. Valerie R. LaMastro ’03, public relations coordinator for the class, said that the average check is eight dollars per person, with entrees ranging from $4.95 to $6.95. Unlike TCAB, which featured “singular events that never had the chance of being repeated,” Rhapsody is a restaurant with a consistent theme “that can be improved on on a daily basis,” Lang said. According to Kuo, since Rhapsody is a new concept this semester, the learning process has extended beyond the first week of the restaurant’s opening. “Working in the kitchen, we constantly try to improve our assembly and cooking line to increase service speed,” Kuo stated in an e-mail. “This is a good experience for everyone because as a future manager [in the hospitality industry], being able to fix the operational problems and increase efficiency is a critical success factor,” Kuo stated. For the first time in the class’ history, a takeout menu will be available. Starting in two weeks, the takeout menu will include selected dinner items and whole roasted chickens with accompanying sides “for faculty and staff of Cornell that are not in the mood to cook dinner,” LaMastro said. According to LaMastro, Rhapsody also caters to students studying at the library and students on campus in the evenings for extracurricular activities such as sports, rehearsals and work. LaMastro said that Rhapsody can provide a change of scenery for students tired of meal plan and looking for something different and affordable between breaks. Sampale said that the prices were very reasonable. She said she was astonished to see “the noisy, lunched-tray packed Terrace transformed into a peaceful and elegant restaurant.” “The managers’ professionalism made them appear more like expert restaurateurs rather than students in a class,” she added. Some students were reluctant about changing the restaurant’s concept from TCAB to Rhapsody, Lang said, but they have realized that change is a real world lesson. “In the working world, especially in our industry, change and reinvention are very common and realistic,” LaMastro said. “The shaping of the class really prepares us for that reality,” she added. Rhapsody is open evenings this semester from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday in the Terrace Restaurant on the bottom floor of the Statler Hotel.Archived article by Janet Liao