Edelman Works Way Into Heps With Tight Win

When freshman cross country runner Nate Edelman squeezed out a first-place finish this past Sunday at the Reif Memorial Run, he earned more than his first career win. His victory by a tenth of a second won him the last spot on the 12-man team competing Heps this weekend.
“I went into [the race] thinking I had a good chance to win.” Edelman said. “My strategy was to stay with the pack until mile three, then break away.”
Edelman, who’s been running cross country as part of a team since junior year of high school, is perhaps a less seasoned runner than many of his teammates. However, Edelman said that his running career at Cornell has already started off really well.
“I feel like I’ve improved every race this season,” he said.
While he mentioned that running on a college team requires him to put in a lot more mileage than running for a high school squad, he also noted that he enjoys running on the trails around the Ithaca area.
A newcomer to track and field in his senior year of high school, Edelman is also expecting to run the 5000-meter and 10,000-meter races on the track team here at Cornell. He stressed the strong leadership qualities of many of his teammates, from the senior co-captains to runners like junior Sam Luff, who he mentioned stepped into a leadership role for the younger runners at the Penn State meet a few weeks ago.
“The guys on the team are really awesome,” he said.
While some of the runners on the team will not race again until the winter indoor track season, the top-12 runners are not yet finished with the cross country season. The men are continuing their normal training in preparation for Heps this weekend.
Edelman will be joining fellow freshman runners Andrew Dannemiller and Max Kasak in the meet. Coming in as the 12th person on the team, Edelman mentioned personal goals for the upcoming race.
Realizing that he’s one of the less experienced runners in the top-12 and at the bottom of the pack, Edelman set his sights on keeping up with his fellow teammates during the race, and perhaps even passing a few.
“I’d at least like to stay with them,” he said.
Edelman mentioned that he has only run once at Van Cortlandt Park — the Heps location this weekend. He would like to beat his previous time.
“I’d like to run a better time. I’d like to break 26 minutes.” Edelman said.