The 110th running of the Penn Relays is officially underway in Philadelphia. Yesterday, the Red began competition against the top Division I and Ivy League talent for the first time this season.
“Cornell definitely had the best showing of all the other Ivies,” said junior co-captain Stacey Nadonly. “We compete really well with other schools, especially in all of our relays and field events. We are right in the mix for a school that doesn’t give athletic scholarships.”
At the Penn Relays many of the events are seeded based on results submitted from other meets that season. The “championship” flite represents the best competition while there is also an open division. In the hammer throw, freshman Danielle Defresne and junior Becky Tucker had good performances against some tough competition in the open bracket. Defresne finished 15th with a toss of 162-9 and Tucker, who threw for a distance of 162-3, placed 16th. In the open high jump, freshman Sarah Wilfred tied for 15th at a height of 5-3 1/4. Stacey Nadolny had a solid day, finishing 15th in the discus with a throw of 140-4 in the open division.
Nadonly was not disappointed with her performance but will use the experience as a chance to improve.
“I wish I could have had three more throws,” she said. “I didn’t really feel it until the last throw. I’m not putting it all together yet but I still have two more home meet opportunities coming up on Sunday and next Saturday. I’m not ecstatic about my performance but I’ve done a lot worse.”
The first major breakthrough for the Red came in the pole vault. Facing some stiff competition in the open division, sophomore Katie Reagan finished tied for fifth at a height of 11-9 3/4. Later the Red scored a huge victory in the 4×400 relay Heptagonal qualifier. The team of sophomore Linda Trotter, senior co-captain Hannah Garrity, junior Kari Steed, and freshman Cameron Washington combined to complete the race in 3:42.66, beating the closest opponent, Brown, by almost five seconds. In the 4×100, the Red posted a time of 47.18 to qualify for the ECAC championship race.
During the evening individual distance events, junior Kate Boyles turned in a very strong performance in the 5000-meter championship, placing fifth with a time of 16:41.75. In the steeplechase, junior Alyssa Simon completed the course in 10:58.11 to finish 14th in the championship flite.
Although the Penn Relays are a huge attraction, the Red also sent several members of the team to the Drake Invitational, as it continues to strive for a single goal — winning the Heptagonal championships.
“Its really nice when you have a deep enough team that you can send the your top four 800 runners to Iowa and still have a team that competes with all these other schools,” Nadonly said. “The Cornell track team getting deeper and deeper, and we’re right where we need to be at this point of the season. This is the point of the season where we start to taper in all our workouts a little bit, and really start getting prepared for Heps. Heps is what everyone looks forward to.”
Men
For decathletes senior Ethan Albrecht-Carrie and sophomore Vito Spadafino the competition began on Wednesday. Albrecht-Carrie racked up 6414 points while Spadafino amassed 6004 to finish fifth and eighth, respectively. Last night in the steeplechase, junior Emory Mort placed ninth in the championship flite finishing in 9:00.72. In the open flite, freshman Aaron Arlinghaus placed second in a time of 9:02.58. The bulk of the men’s team will compete today.
Archived article by James Rich
Sun Staff Writer