This past weekend, the track and field split for three meets at Clemson University, Boston University and Ithaca College where the Red brought home a total of 19 event wins.
Women’s track and field dominated proceedings at the Ithaca Tri/Quad Meet, with a memorable display coming from freshman sprinter Brianna Beckham who claimed first place in the 60 meters, followed by a comfortable win in the 200 meters in a time of 25.35 seconds.
Other successes included wins for fellow freshman sprinter Riley Ebersole in the 400 meters, sophomore Jennalee Dunn in the 800 meters and sophomore Cara Hliboki in the mile. The final individual women’s track win came in the 60 meter hurdles from junior Margaux Rawson. Rawson also took second place in the long jump behind freshman Sade Falese whose season-best effort of 5.50 meters was enough to take first place.
The wins did not stop there, with the women’s team claiming additional top-spot finishes. Senior Catalina Zaloj took the high jump title, while sophomore Sarah Caldwell continued Cornell’s impressive display in the jumping events with a season’s best effort of 11.09 meters to take the triple jump win. Meanwhile, junior Charli Stewart and freshman Avery Hastings wrapped up the individual events with wins in the shot put and weight throw respectively.
The women’s team also finished first and second in the 4×400 meter relay to seal its 12th title of the meet.
There was similar success for the men’s team over the weekend, with the Red also asserting its dominance at the Ithaca Tri/Quad Invitational, accumulating seven event wins.
The men’s team extended their run of good form in the jump events as freshman Ryan Brynjolfson overcame two opening foul jumps to equal his season’s best in the long jump, with a distance of 6.78m. Brynjolfson’s jump spearheaded a Cornell top-three, with junior Josh Green taking second place and freshman Ryan Antwi completing the podium places.
There was a further top-three finish for the Red in the pole vault. Senior Shane Racey took the win with a height of 5.20 meters, while junior Vicentejordan Vanderlipe and sophomore Wyatt Ricketts battled to second and third place finishes respectively. To complete the field events, freshman Mannie Arbabi won a closely fought shot put event, winning with a best throw of 16.18 meters.
Arguably, the race of the meet came in the 400 meters where junior Jack Daly managed to hold off freshman Jeremy Henderson by 0.02 seconds to claim a photo-finish win for Cornell. Henderson’s time of 50.91 was a lifetime best and showcased the Red’s bright future on the track and the strength in depth in the 400 Meters event.
Elsewhere on track, there were further wins for sophomores Michael Dizon-Bumann in the 800 meters and Ryan Johnson in the mile.
The men’s team followed the women in recording a big win in the 4×400 meter relay, beating the hosting university Ithaca College by more than 10 seconds.
At Clemson University, freshman Anika Sukumar earned the highest finish for the Red at the Tiger Paw Invite, taking 12th in the triple jump, while freshman Emma O’Day took the highest Cornell finish at Boston University’s David Valentine Invite with an impressive ninth place in the unseeded 3000 meter run.
The men’s team also showed strength at both the David Valentine Invite and the Tiger Paw Invite. Senior Jacob Pantoya and freshman Tyler Tisinger earned the highest Cornell finishes in Boston, placing 32nd and 43rd respectively in the 1000 meter and 800 meter run.
Meanwhile at Clemson University, senior Brad Morell earned the highest finish for the Red, finishing sixth in the weight throw and eighth in the shot put. Sophomore Noah Harman finished just outside of the top-10 in the shot put, placing 11th in the event.
The Red will split up again this weekend as it looks to finalize its preparation for the Indoor Ivy League Heptagonal Championships on Feb. 24-25. Both the men’s and women’s teams will travel to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana on Friday for The Alex Wilson Invitational before returning home to host The Marc Deneault Invite at 10 a.m on Saturday in Barton Hall.
Alice Jones is a Sun contributor and can be reached at [email protected].