The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/cross-country/)
Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams were left disappointed after their respective sixth and fifth place finishes at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in Princeton, N.J, on Saturday.
The cross country postseason begins this Saturday, as both the men’s and women’s teams will fight it out against the Ancient Eight in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in Princeton, N.J.
The Cornell men’s and women’s cross country teams have flown through the first half of their season with flying colors. This past Saturday, the men finished ninth out of 34 teams while the women finished eighth out of 48 at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University. The women’s team recorded the second best run in Cornell history at the Paul Short, with its top five runners finishing within a remarkable 19 seconds of each other. This was the shortest spread for any school participating in the run. Twenty of the 24 women competing recorded personal bests in the six-kilometer race, giving head coach Artie Smith good reason for cheer.
The Cornell men’s and women’s cross country teams are set to compete in the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University as the days tick down from Saturday Oct. 1 until the Ivy League Championships at the end of the month. With both teams coming off second and first place finishes in their previous outings, respectively, Cornell hopes to continue building momentum in this competitive run that features several other Ivy League opponents along with other division one, two and three opponents. The women’s team placed first for the second year running at the University of Rochester Yellow Jacket Invitational, with senior tri-captain Taylor Spillane and junior Jackie Katzman finishing in the top three for the six-kilometer race. Associate Head Coach Artie Smith attributes his team’s consistently strong performances to their training and preparation.
The women’s cross country team finished first for the second year in a row in Saturday’s Yellowjacket Invitational. The Red dominated the field, placing seven runners in the top 10 and 13 in the top 25, an impressive feat, considering the field is around 400 women strong.
The heat, the humidity and the nationally-ranked competition gave the team a true test, but Cornell women’s cross country did not back down, taking fourth place this weekend at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational, just a few points behind the top three teams.
The Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational will feature seven Division I schools — four of which are ranked in the top 25 nationally — and will provide an early test for the Red, unlike first contests in previous years.
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“Just keep improving and moving forward.” That is the philosophy of 18-year veteran head coach Artie Smith ’96 of the women’s cross country team. In just two weeks, Cornell’s 46 member squad will head down to State College, Pennsylvania for its first meet of the season. In the 2015 campaign, the women had flashes of greatness – winning several competitive meets and spending time in the nation’s top 30 of over 300 Division-I schools. “There were a lot of great things last year… I mean being in the top 30 in this sport is a big deal,” Smith stated. Certain steps along the way leave the team hungry for more, though.
In what could be its last meet of the season, the men’s cross country team was able to come up big in NCAA Regionals. The team finished in third place, above nationally ranked squads from Columbia and Providence, and missed out qualifying as a team for NCAA Championships by only a couple points. Despite missing out on a Top-2 finish, which would automatically place the Red in the NCAA Championship, Cornell still has a chance to earn a right to compete at the event as a team. Seniors Ben Rainero ad Brian Eimstad, who were able to qualify for the NCAA National Championship with their results from last Friday, continued their success. Rainero placed fifth while Eimstad was able to push for a 14th place finish.