STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- At the Penn State National Invitational on Saturday, the Cornell men were led by a trio of seniors and placed 5th in a field of 27 teams and 239 runners, defeating Heps rivals Yale (8th) and Pennsylvania (9th). Ranked #14 in the national polls, Syracuse won the meet with 61 points, followed by #23 Penn State, #35 Villanova, and Grand Valley State (ranked 4th nationally in Division II). The Big Red men scored 178 points, with a season-best 54-second gap between the #1 and #5 runners and an average time of 26:06.
Senior
Nate Edelman again led the Big Red men in 10th place, running the 5.2-mile course in 25:40, 17 seconds behind the overall winner, Eastern Michigan's Terefe Ejigu (25:23). Senior
Adrien Dannemiller was 16th (25:45) and senior captain
Matt De Silva finished 39th in 26:11. Matt was recently granted a fifth season of cross-country eligibility and officially began his season today. A transfer from Purdue in 2009, the returning All-Ivy performer provided a welcome mid-season boost. Gabe Heck continued his excellent freshman campaign, finishing 53rd in 26:23, ahead of fellow Wisconsan
Brett Kelly (sophomore, 62nd, 26:33). Rounding out the top seven were junior
Chandler Kemp (76th, 26:44) and senior
Steve Soprano (77th, 26:44), both running outstanding races. Senior Tom Shouler, showing remarkable improvement over his collegiate career, placed 89th in 26:53, followed closely by freshman Dave Forward (97th, 26:56), sophomore Matt McCullough (115th, 27:06), and freshman
Max Groves (117th, 27:08). Leading the next Cornell pack was
Andy Arnold (154th, 27:36), placing just ahead of three fellow sophomores:
Adam Trofa (156th, 27:38), Dan Wallace (157st, 27:38), and
Bobby Micikas (161st, 27:40). Also representing Cornell were junior
David Frankel (162nd, 27:42) and sophomore
Nick Wade (190th, 28:01) in a solid overall showing for the men's team today.
Complete Men's Race results can be found here:
Next up for the Big Red is the John Reif Memorial Run on Friday, October 22nd at Cornell's Moakley Course. The co-ed 5k race is at 4:30 and the men's 5 mile race is at 5 PM. The top 12 men and 12 women will race at the Heps in New York City's Van Cortlandt Park on Friday, October 29th.
