Coming off a solid 2011-2012 indoor season, the men and women’s track and field teams are poised to make another run at the Heps championship, which will be hosted this year at Harvard.Both teams finished second to Princeton and Columbia, respectively, at last season’s indoor Heps championship, and the main goal this year is to bring the crown back to Cornell.“I think overall we’re going to do great,” said senior co-captain Libby O’Brien. “I know we lost a lot of great seniors from last year but we’ve picked up some new great athletes.”Notable returners for the women’s team include O’Brien — who was a part of the Red’s Heps champion 4×400 team — as well as shot put Heps champion Victoria Imbesi, high jump Heps champion Ailish Hanly and cross country Heps champion Katie Kellner.The men’s team is also returning numerous strong athletes. They include NCAA finalists Montez Blair in high jump and Stephen Mozia in shot put, two-time Heps champion in the long jump Steven Bell, Heps champion Jedidiah Adarquah-Yiadom and Heps champion in the pole vault Peter Roach.“I think we’ve got about five or six very good freshmen,” said head coach Nathan Taylor. “I think they’re real talents, and [I can] see some great things from them three months from now.”“The freshmen are looking very motivated,” said senior sprinter Bruno Hortelano. “I see them with a real goal in mind, they’re really willing to work for a victory.”Senior co-captain Ailish Hanly spoke highly of the freshmen class.“I’ve been really impressed by the strength of these girls mentally. Their attitude is so positive,” she said. One of the new faces on the men’s side is freshman decathlete Ryan Hynes.“It’s definitely a big transition from high school to college,” he said. “My days are really long with a lot of really intense training.”Aiding the Red in its quest for the Heps title is this year’s schedule setup.“The schedule is favorable,” said women’s head coach Richard Bowman. “The Ivy League championship is being hosted this year at a banked track at Harvard, and we have a few meets … that are going to have banked tracks.”Notable meets for the Red this season include the Invite at The Armory in New York City on January 26th, followed immediately by the Sykes-Sabock Challenge at Penn State on February 2nd.The Red will have five meets in Barton Hall this season — including the Cornell Relays on Dec. 1 and the Kane Invitational on Feb. 9.“I think we’re poised to do very well,” said women’s senior co-captain Katie Kellner. “We’re returning a lot of big contributors and Heps champions from last year.”Looking beyond the Heps, though, Taylor believes that his men’s team contains athletes who have a legitimate shot at competing on the national level at the NCAA finals.“The men’s team has ten guys who have a real shot at making it to the [NCAA Finals],” he said. “I’m excited to see them compete.”
Original Author: Juan Carlos Toledo