ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's and women's track and field teams will try to make history this weekend at the 2010 Outdoor Heptagonal Championships, hosted by Princeton. The Big Red men will be trying to be the first team in the history of the meet to win eight straight titles, while the women's team will be trying to claim its league-leading 12th outdoor championship and eighth in the last nine years.

A win for the Cornell men would give the Big Red 14 outdoor championships all-time, which would tie Cornell with Penn for the most in meet history. Additionally, only three times previously has one team claimed seven straight titles at any meet, with the Big Red men trying to become the first to win eight championships.

The Cornell men enter the meet with the top seed time in four individual events and one relay, led by senior Duane Teixeira, who holds the top marks in both the triple jump and the long jump. Teixeira leads Josh Kirkpatrick in the long jump and Gary Jones in the triple as the Big Red holds the top two marks this season in each event. In the decathlon, sophomore Nick Huber is the only athlete to have scored better than 7,000 points this season, leading three Cornellians with the top marks in that event. Fellow sophomore Chase Aaronson has the top 100m time in the league this season, as he leads Cornellians with four of the five best marks this year. The Big Red also enters the meet with the top seed time in the 4x100m relay.

For the first time in several seasons, the women's meet should be closely contested by four schools, as Brown, Columbia, Princeton and Cornell each have legitimate title aspirations. Brown's strengths are its throwing events, as a Bear athlete holds the top seed mark in three of the four throwing events. Columbia appears strongest in the sprints, while Cornell and Princeton appear to have solid depth throughout all events.

Cornell enters the meet with the top seed mark in three events, two individual events and one relay. Senior Natalie Gengel holds the top mark in the pole vault in her final Heptagonal Championship, while sophomore Melissa Hewitt has the league's best mark in the long jump, the only athlete in the league this season to clear better than 20 feet. Additionally, Cornell holds the top entry in the 4x100m relay at 45.60, the only team to post a time under 46 seconds this year.

Live events from the Heptagonal Championships can be found at the following link:
http://www.flashresults.com/2010_Meets/outdoor/heps/

For more stories, photos, results and behind-the-scenes info from the meet, be sure to check out www.HepsTrack.com throughout the weekend.

An update will be posted to www.CornellBigRed.com following day one of action at the Heptagonal Championships on Saturday night, with a full recap coming of all of the weekend's action on Sunday evening.

Heptagonal Games Schedule