February 17, 2004

Track Teams Hold Own at Penn State

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When the men’s and women’s track teams participated in the Penn State Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup this past weekend, they knew they were meeting the some of toughest competition of the season. Among the teams competing were Division I foes Central Michigan, Michigan, Ohio State, Kent State, and Penn State. Undaunted, the Red managed to turn in a strong performance.

Men

Although the Red finished fourth, Coach Nathan Taylor remained upbeat.

“It was a great opportunity,” said Coach Taylor, “You need to compete against the best competition you can find, and it was at great terrific facility.”

The meet pitted the Red, ranked in the top 25, against five other top-ranked national programs and Cornell rose to the challenge. After the first day the Red sat in fifth place, but the team was able make up ground, despite scoring in nine events on the final day.

Leading the charge were members of the triple jump. Freshmen Kofi Ofori Anash placed third with a jump of 47’7″ feet and was followed by senior Tyler Kuane who leapt 46’7″ feet. Together they earned the Red 11 points. In the pole vault, junior Adam Sansiveri took third clearing a height of 15 ‘9″.

On the track, junior Brian Eremita and sophomore Greg Simonds placed third and fifth respectively in the 600-meter run. Senior Rahim Wooley scored points for the Red on both days, taking seventh in 60-meter dash on Friday, and fourth in the 200-meter dash on Saturday. Both performances qualified him for the IC4As, and his 200-meter effort set a new Cornell record.

In the field, senior Giles Longley-Cook placed fourth in the 35-pound weight throw with a toss of 61’7″ feet.

In the end Taylor was pleased with the team’s performance.

“Whenever you can beat schools like Ohio State you’ve done well,” said Taylor. “Ohio State has a fully funded and good track program. Also, we beat Kent State who has an excellent program, both teams, Ohio State and Kent State, are in the top 25.”

Women

The women finished in seventh place were not disappointed — several individuals rose to the challenge and turned in excellent performances.

The Red scored early when junior Kate Boyles finished second in the 5000-meter run with a blistering 16:45.23. Her time was just .23 seconds from an NCAA provisional qualifying time. In the distance medley, the team of senior Natalie Gingrich, sophomore Linda Trotter, juniors Jessica Brown and Sarah Coseo, placed second and achieved a NCAA tournament qualifying mark.

On the final day, Saturday, the Red continued its success. In the 400-meter dash freshman Cameron Washington finished third just ahead of teammate junior Shonda Brown by two hundredths of a second. Later Brown and Washington teamed up with junior Kari Steed and senior Johanna Garrity on the 4×400 meter relay team to place third. Rounding out the scoring was junior Jessica Brown who placed sixth in the 800 meter run.

Archived article by James Rich