The men’s and women’s cross country teams open their 2005 season tomorrow, facing off against Army at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course. After last year’s success and with both teams having very successful summer workouts, the Red squads look to begin a promising season with a victory.
Last year, Kate Boyles ’05 won the five-kilometer race, as the Red topped Army 45-18. Boyles ran the only sub-24:00 minute time, and seven of the top-8 finishers were from Cornell.
Despite the graduation of key runners like Boyles and Alyssa Simon ’05, plenty of talent remains on the woman’s side. The team has strong leadership and experience from its seniors, including captain Angela Cudla, Emily McCabe, and Christy Planer. Juniors Robyn Ellerbrock, Nyam Kagwima and Christy Paul , who should do big things this year and will be a vital part of the Red’s team. Showing tremendous improvement from last season is sophomore Alicia Korol, who may prove to have a significant impact.
The youngest age group may be the most impressive. A strong class of freshman has emerged during the preseason, partly due to tremendous summer conditioning.
“This is by far the best group of freshman in terms of [preseason conditioning],” said woman’s head coach Lou Duesing.
Those freshmen include Shannon Crane, Fiona Cundy, Sonia Haerizadeh, Aeriel Emig, Marie Parks, Katie Roll and Danielle Schaub.
Duesing hopes that their good summer workouts translate into fast meet times, though he knows that’s not normally the case, as the freshmen lack experience.
The men will also enter their race with great confidence, as seven Cornell runners finished in the top-10 in last year’s meet en route to a 37-22 Red victory. Senior All-American Bruce Hyde looks to kick off his season with a win at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course for the second straight year.
Despite the graduation of Emory Mort ’05 and Oliver Tassinari ’05, the Red have a solid core left for this year’s campaign. Senior Bryan Jarrett and juniors Aaron Arlinghaus and Brad Baird provide leadership on an already experienced and tested squad. Sophomores Stephen Bakke, David Shenk and Jimmy Wyner will have key roles for the Red. All three sophomores played a role in last season’s success, and will continue to improve.
The first meet of the season weighs heavily on everyone’s mind, as the results of tomorrow’s race could determine strategy for the rest of the season. Although Duesing does not expect new records to be set, it will tell him a great deal about how the runners will do this season.
“A lot of stuff will get resolved,” Duesing said. “Nothing will get written in stone, but we’ll learn an awful lot.”
Archived article by Josh Perlin
Sun Staff Writer