BIRMINGHAM, England -- The Cornell track teams had a terrific four days in Birmingham, and the track team there were wonderful hosts. The athletes on the Cornell and Penn teams stayed with their counterparts from Birmingham and continued the long tradition of forging Trans-Atlantic friendships on these tours. In addition to trips to the Cadbury Factory and Warwick Castle during the week, the teams enjoyed a banquet Monday night on the university campus and a match was held between Birmingham and the combined Cornell and Penn teams on Tuesday. A team from the University of Limerick, as well as other local athletes, also competed as guests.
 
The Cornell/Penn teams came out on top in the team scoring, winning 144-104 in the combined men's and women's tally. On the women's ledger, Cornell and Penn outscored Birmingham 69 to 41 while the Americans won 75-63 on the men's side. For Cornell, the Big Red men and the Big Red women each accounted for 10 event wins.
 
On the women's side, one of the chief highlights was the 3000 meter debut of senior Kerri Lyons.  In her first ever attempt at the distance, she ran 9:29.99, #4 all-time at Cornell. Freshman Kelsey Karys ran a great race to place second, in 9:47.39 (her second best outdoor time in her career) while seniors Steph Pancoast (5th, 9:58.77, an outdoor PR) and Erin Roberts (7th, 10:18.85) also ran well. In the 800, junior All-American Kim Standridge ran another very good race, placing first in a fine 2:06.60 in what was a very competitive field. Freshman Victoria Imbesi had a very good day, winning three events. She threw 124-5 in the javelin, 136-6 in the discus and 41-10 1/2 in the shot put. Sophomore Erin Rossi had three second place efforts:  86-0 in the javelin, 146-8 in the hammer, and 35-8 3/4 in the shot put. Meanwhile, freshman Claire Dishong was also very busy, as she won the pole vault with a clearance of 11-3 3/4 and then placed third in the discus (sprinting across the field between pole vault attempts!) at 130-9.  Sophomore Melissa Hewitt also impressed as she won the long jump at 18-0 and took second (although she was only beaten by one of the guest competitors) in the 100 at 11.99. In the 400, senior Kate Backel was second at 55.82 and in the 400 hurdles, sophomore Molly Glantz took second in 60.46, while senior Jess Weyman was third at 60.47 (she was also fifth in the 200 at 25.12). In the 100 hurdles, sophomore Dani Silas was third at 14.72. Elsewhere in the field events, sophomore Kristin Brandt won the triple jump at 37-8 3/4 and was third in the long jump while junior Kim Lienhoop was third in the high jump at 5-3.  Junior Mecha Santos and Hewitt teamed up with Penn's Paige Madison and Leah Brown to take first in the 4X100 relay. And in the sprint medley, Penn's Jamie Massarelli handed off to Cornell's Backel and Weyman before Lyons anchored in 2:14.0 for the 800 as the squad took second.
 
On the men's side, senior Duane Teixeira had a very good day, winning both the long jump (24-1 3/4) and the triple jump (49-0 3/4). Classmate Gary Jones was third in the long jump at 21-8 and second in the triple jump at 48-9 1/2. Another senior, Marcel van Eeden, also looked fit: he won the 400 going away in 47.95. Freshman Bruno-Hortelano-Roig also looked sharp, taking the 200 in a fine 21.73; junior Chris Tait was third at 22.17. Also running well on the track was junior Adrien Dannemiller who placed third in the 1500 (but was first in the team scoring) in 3:53.51. Classmate Nate Edelman looked strong in running 8:28.15 for second (but again, first in the team scoring) in the 3000; senior Charlie Hatch was 12th in 8:47.17. The throws were also good events for Cornell.  Freshman Rob Fiedler won the hammer with a throw of 156-10, while sophomore Bob Belden was second in an event he rarely competes in, reaching 148-11. Belden also placed second (first in the team scoring) at 51-7 3/4 in the shot put and then third in the discus at 159-2. Senior Scott Jaffee took second (first in the team scoring) in the discus in a good 163-10. Sophomore Chris Arlinghaus cleared 6-6 3/4 for fourth in a very high quality high jump competition and senior Rick Zamora was also fourth, clearing 15-1 in the pole vault. Recovering from being ill the first week, sophomore Nick Huber managed fifth in the 110 hurdles (15.41) and second in the javelin (141-2). 
 
As I write, we just arrived at Cambridge, and our home for the next few days, Fitzwilliam College.  We are looking forward to our final week of our Tour which will conclude at Oxford.  Our next competition is the match against Oxford and Cambridge on Tuesday the 29th on the historic track at Iffley Road!