On Friday, Oct. 13, cross country raced at the IC4A/ECAC Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. The following day, the Red was right back at it, racing at Pre-Nationals in Charlottesville, Virginia — the national championship race will be held on this same course on Nov. 18.
In the IC4A/ECAC meet, junior Derek Amicon came in first for the Red, placing 36th overall with a time of 24:41 for the 8,000 meter race. Freshman Matthew O’Brien was the next finisher for Cornell, clocking in at 24:53. About 10 seconds later, junior Andy O’Brien crossed the finish line, placing 67th overall. Senior Alec Hill and junior Tyler Patterson both finished within 30 seconds of O’Brien, rounding out the scorers.
The team finished in ninth place out of 34 competing teams.
The Red featured most of its usual top runners at Pre-Nationals. Senior Rhys Hammond paced the field for Cornell with a time of 23:55. Junior Damien Hackett was the next to cross the finish line at 24:04. Continuing his impressive rookie season, freshman Pierre Atiogbe completed the race at 24:17. Junior Jake Gelfand and senior Colden Longley were the fourth and fifth finishers for the Red, respectively.
Cornell came in 12th place out of 23 teams. Out of the participating Ivy League rivals, Yale edged out the Red, coming in 10th place. Dartmouth and Penn finished in 16th and 17th places, respectively.
The women’s team placed 16th in the IC4A/ECAC Championships. Senior Bella DiPalermo led the way in this race, placing 51st overall. Sophomore Katja Jackson was not too far behind, finishing the race just eight seconds after DiPalermo. Despite the team’s usual strategy of pack running, the rest of the scorers were relatively staggered — sophomores Madeline Nelson, Ava Black and Brooke Hirsch all finished at least 17 seconds apart from each other.
After finishing in the middle of the pack at this meet, the Red had a much more impressive performance at Pre-Nationals, finishing in sixth place out of 15 teams.
Junior Marge Dalseth — a stalwart at the top of Cornell’s scorers — finished in 20th place, clocking in at 21:22 for the 6,000 meter race. Junior Augustine Haquet and sophomore Mairead Clas stuck with each other throughout the race, crossing the finish line at 21:32 and 21:36, respectively. Junior Gwen Parks was Cornell’s fourth scorer, finishing about 30 seconds after Clas. Junior Avery Brull rounded out the group about 10 seconds later.
Cross country will continue its season on Friday, Oct. 20 at the John Reif Memorial meet at Moakley Course in Ithaca, New York. John Reif ‘86 was a star runner for the team during his undergraduate years, but tragically passed away in 1987.
“It is such a special event for our program. … It’s really great to honor him and continue to support his legacy,” said head coach Mike Henderson.