ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's track team looked strong across the board as they prepped for the Heps at the 11th Marc Deneault Memorial Invitational on Saturday in Barton Hall. Playing host to nearly 20 teams, the Big Red won ten times and also had ten ECAC qualifiers to go along with 40 top-five event finishes. Shanekia Hall of Essex was awarded Most Outstanding Performer honors for the second straight year as she broke her own Barton Hall record in the 60 hurdles.
Cornell secured wins in both throwing events as sophomore Victoria Imbesi set yet another personal best to improve to 46-10 3/4 in the shot put while junior Erin Rossi won the weight throw at 51-5; senior Cassie Schweighofer was second at 50-2. In the vault, junior Sam Brady equalled her indoor personal best with a seasonal best clearance of 12- 1/2 to win; sophomore Claire Dishong also bettered the ECAC standard with a third place 11-9 3/4. Elsewhere in the field, sophomore Rebecca Delong won the long jump with a leap of 18-0 1/4 and was followed closely by junior Jess Wilson at 17-10 3/4. In the high jump, sophomore Ailish Hanly tied her personal best with a clearance of 5-5 for second and freshman Jennifer Bush was second in the triple jump at 36-7 3/4 after placing fourth in the long jump at 17-6.
The Big Red looked great on the track as well, with personal best efforts in nearly event event. Three ECAC qualifying performances in the 800 lead the way. Sophomore Alyssa O'Connor set a personal best in running 2:11.87 for first and was followed very closely by junior Janel Parker, who also ran a personal best of 2:12.22 for second. Fellow junior Bry Bonavita ran very well also, setting yet another personal best to place third in 2:14.30. In the 500, junior Molly Glantz continued to roll, moving to #7 all-time at Cornell with a run of 1:14.47; senior co-captain Kim Standridge moved to #10 all-time with a second place 1:15.19 to also hit the ECAC standard. Freshmen Lauren Lloyd (4th, 1:17.13) and Leanne Fernandes (5th, 1:17.74 to win her heat) also set personal bests and ran well. Junior Meghan Brown also qualified for the ECACs with a wire-to-wire victory of 2:57.52 in the 1000; freshman Dale Kinney set a personal best of 2:59.69 for third and junior Kelsey Karys was fifth in 3:01.92. The 300 also provided impressive highlights as junior Melissa Hewitt moved to #5 all-time with a runner-up showing of 39.95. Meanwhile, freshman Ebolutalese Airewele was third in a new freshman record (and #9 all-time) of 40.38 and junior Kelsey Reimnitz moved to #10 all-time, crossing the line fourth in 40.41. Junior Dani Silas again bettered the ECAC standard, running 8.78 for second in the 60 hurdles while junior Taylor Baird was third at 9.04 and senior Lauren Tanz ran well to get fifth in 9.05.
A pair of seniors set personal bests to lead Cornell to several good showings in the 3000, as the Big Red swept the top seven places. Kristin Sellers crossed the line first in her final race in Barton Hall, running 10:09.94 while Maura Carroll also set a PR in running 10:13.29. Freshmen Rachel Sorna (10:14.69, also a PR) and Liz Simpson (10:16.94) were third and fourth and sophomore Neesha Schnepf joined the PR parade with a fifth palce 10:28.70. Sophomore Katie Kellner ran another personal best to lead several sophomore distance runners to personal best and top-five showings in the mile, as she crossed the line first in 5:03.99 and was followed closely by classmate Cara Costich, who ran 5:05.50 for second. Kate Rosettie was fourth in 5:08.58 and Genna Hartung was fifth in 5:08.99.
In the final event for the women, the 4X400 of freshman Andrea Sielicki, sophomore Liz Reamer, senior Renee Mercedes and sophomore Erin McKee placed first in 4:06.34.
Complete results can be found at:
http://www.directathletics.com/results/track/17850.html
or here in PDF format.
Next up for Cornell is the Indoor Heps at the Armory in New York City on February 26-27.
