PRINCETON, N.J. -- A week removed from their team titles at the Outdoor Heps, the Cornell women's team returned to Princeton for the ECAC Championships, which began on Friday. Yet again, the Big Red proved to be extremely competitive throughout the weekend, with six scoring performances and five alterations to the all-time top 10 lists as nine women earned All-East honors. Although several top athletes stayed home due to final exams or to rest up for the upcoming NCAA Championships, the women placed sixth out of the 85 schools with 35 points; the UConn women were the run-away team champions.
The meet ended in style for the Cornell women as the 4x400 placed first in the final event of the weekend, crossing the line in 3:38.95, fifth all-time in school history and the fourth time in seven years that the Big Red has won the outdoor ECAC 4x400, though the first since 2006. Sophomore
Kelsey Reimnitz led off in 56.6, senior
Megan Williams ran a very strong 54.4, senior Kate Backel was outstanding in splitting 53.7 and senior
Jessica Weyman anchored in 54.2 for the victory.
Just as the meet ended well for the Big Red, things got off to a great start on Friday evening in the distance races. Freshman
Kelsey Karys placed fourth in the 5000m, running a 10-second personal best of 16:36.96 for the sixth best time in school history. Earlier, senior
Stephanie Pancoast ran a seasonal best 10:29.25 for ninth in the 3000m steeplechase, with classmate
Erin Roberts close behind in 10:38.84. On Saturday, freshman
Victoria Imbesi earned All-East honors by placing fourth in the javelin, throwing 137-2.
There were three terrific scoring efforts in Sunday's finals. Senior
Kerri Lyons led most of the race to place a fantastic third in the 1500, crossing the line in 4:23.30, sixth all-time at Cornell. Junior Kim Standridge ran a great race as well, placing fourth in the 800 in 2:06.67, moving up to fourth all-time at Cornell. In the 400 hurdles, sophomore
Molly Glantz ran 59.80 for fifth, a significant personal breakthrough and the third best time in school history. All three ran well in Saturday's prelims to advance: Lyons ran 4:24.53 to win her heat, Standridge looked strong in running 2:07.12 and Glantz closed well to run 60.07. The 4x400 won its preliminary heat in 3:42.00 behind legs from Reimnitz (58.6), Williams (54.1), Backel (54.7) and Weyman (54.4).
Despite final exams, there were several other competitors representing Cornell on the weekend: junior
Maura Carroll (21st, 11:03.82) in the 3K steeplechase, sophomore Dani Silas (14.59 to advance to the semi-final round) in the 100 hurdles, Weyman (10th, 60.52) and freshman
Mari Giurastante (25th, 67.79) in the 400 hurdles, Backel (16th, 24.69) and junior
Mecha Santos (25th, 24.94) in the 200, Williams (16th, 56.65) in the 400, sophomore
Karen Schillinger (11th, 4375 points) in the heptathlon, junior Kim Lienhoop in the long jump (12th, 18-4 1/4), freshman
Katie Kellner in the 5K and senior
Natalie Gengel, sophomore Sam Brady and freshmen
Lindsey Patterson in the pole vault.
Complete results can be found at:
http://www.lancertiming.com/results/spring10/ECIC-Women.htm
In addition, you can see footage of every race at:
http://www.fauxtrack.com/
Next up for Cornell is the first round of the NCAA Championships, to be held May 27-29. For Division I schools east of the Mississippi, the first round site will be in Greensboro, N.C., on the campus of North Carolina A&T. The other site for western schools will be in Austin, Tex., on the same dates. The top 12 in each event contested at these two sites will advance the Final Round of the NCAA Championships, to be held this year in Eugene, Ore., from June 9-12. The top 48 declared athletes in each event for each region (with the exception of the multi-events) will compete at the First Round site; the NCAA will announce these competitors on Friday, May 21.
