ITHACA, N.Y. -- Running under sunny skies, but in humid weather and on a very wet and damp course, the Cornell cross country teams opened up their 2011 cross country campaigns with successful showings at the Moakley Course at Cornell on Friday, taking first in both the men's and women's competition in a tri-meet with Army and Binghamton.

The Cornell women scored a perfect 15 points, with 10 of the top 13 finishers to defeat Army (53) and Binghamton (77). The Big Red men had a low score of 20 while Army tallied 39 and Binghamton 77.

The Big Red women were led by the junior duo of Katie Kellner and Genna Hartung, who ran clear of the field after the first mile and finished with very impressive times given the course conditions. Kellner won her first career college cross country race with a fine effort of 17:56.8 for 5000 meters while Hartung was close behind in 18:00.1 as both raced very well. Sophomore Emmy Shearer looked strong throughout and had a breakthrough race to place third in 18:42.2. Senior Janel Parker had her best start yet to a cross country season by placing fifth in 18:45.8.

Sophomore Devin McMahon gave a very good effort to get sixth in 18:52.3 and freshman Marianne Collard was seventh in 18:56.8 in an impressive college debut. Sophomore Dale Kinney had an excellent race, moving up well throughout to finish ninth overall in 19:07.8. Junior Kate Rosettie (12, 19:17.3), freshman Sydney Williams (13, 19:21.5), sophomore Rachel Sorna (15, 19:30.4), freshman Corey Dowe (16, 19:31.1), freshman Katie Johnson (17, 19:34.5), senior captain Meghan Brown (18, 19:36.8) and senior Shelby Herman (19, 19:39.3) did well to finish in the top 20.

A young Cornell men's team showed they are up to the challenge of fielding a very competitive squad despite the graduation of last year's top three runners. Sophomore Max Groves had a terrific kick to storm to the race victory, crossing the line in 26:23.8 for the five-mile course while senior captain Chandler Kemp was able to find a higher gear at the finish line to pass an Army athlete and place second in 26:27.2. The Big Red put four in the top five as sophomore Gabe Heck was fourth in 26:31.9 and Brett Kelly was fifth in 26:35.1.

Closing out the scoring five was freshman Ben Potts, who placed eighth in 26:55.7, and another pair of freshmen newcomers rounded out the top seven as David Melly (11, 27:05.6) and Tyler Eustance (12, 27:05.9) crossed the line together. And in his first cross country race in two years after a series of injuries, junior Kevin Johnson's comeback to competition was completed with a fine 13th-place finish of 27:06.4. Also finishing in the top 20 was junior Andy Arnold, who ran 27:21.6.

Due to serious flooding in the Southern Tier this week – classes were cancelled at Cornell on Thursday morning after four and half inches of rain fell in the area on Wednesday – one of the more infamous sections of the course had to be removed as several downed trees, serious flooding and bad footing made the “Gorge” impassable. Instead of finishing with the traditional Gorge loop, both the men's and women's races concluded with an extra “C” Loop along the third and fourth hole of the golf course.

The runners were still able to run to the finishing chute on the traditional straightaway in front of the Moakley House, although it meant both courses were slightly longer than the traditional and advertised 5000 meters and 5 miles. But with very sloppy footing and standing water on the course, the race still had many of the challenges that define competition at the Moakley Course.

Next up for the Big Red is the Colgate Invitational in Hamilton, N.Y., on Saturday, Sept. 17. In addition to the host Colgate Raiders, the meet will also feature nationally ranked Syracuse and other local schools.

View the Results (.pdf)