Men's Championship Results
Men's Open Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Cornell men's cross country team squared off against some of the nation's best in a field of 45 teams on Friday at Lehigh's Paul Short Invitational and returned to Ithaca with a solid 12th place team finish.  

Despite extremely muddy conditions which made a significant impact on the race and finishing times, the Big Red saw some important progress.

The Cornell men were led by very strong performances from their first three finishers to score 355 points. Up-front, No. 4 Oklahoma claimed the team title and was followed by No. 22 Georgetown, No. 39 Columbia, No. 18 Villanova, No. 15 Syracuse, No. 17 Providence, Brown, No. 32 Dartmouth, Harvard, No. 19 Virginia, Navy and Cornell. The Big Red did finish well clear of Heps rivals Yale and Penn. 

Cornell was led by junior Brett Kelly, who had one of the best races of his Cornell career to place 30th in 24:57, a remarkable time for the muddy course. The Big Red got a huge boost from another junior, Kevin Johnson. On the sidelines for over a year due to injury, Johnson improved significantly from his season opener against Army three weeks ago to vault from eighth on the team to Cornell's second man, placing 50th in 25:12.

Senior Chandler Kemp had a fine effort again to place 54th in 25:15.  Sophomore Gabe Heck was 102nd in 25:34 and classmate Max Groves (the Big Red's top finisher in the first two meets), was 119th in 25:42.  Junior Matt McCullough was 147th in 25:50 and freshman Ben Potts closed out the team's top seven with a time of 25:58 for 166th.  Also competing in the field of 402 runners for Cornell in the Championship race was junior Andy Arnold (222nd, 26:18), freshma David Melly (258th, 26;35), and junior Bobby Micikas (332nd, 27:15).

Cornell also had runners in the Open race. Junior Will McFall was 32nd in 26:15, freshman Tyler Eustance was 44th in 26:35, sophomore Chris Christoff was 61st in 26:54, sophomore Andrew Herring was 100th in 27:22, freshman Kieran Kinnare was 106th in 27:28, freshman Sam Belcher was 111th in 27:34, sophomore Custer Adam was 153rd in 27:53, junior Nick Wade was 15th in 27:55, freshman Van Adams was 167th in 27:59, freshman Jonathan Phillips was 231st in 28:35, and freshman Calvin Patten was 312th in 29:27.

The Big Red competes next on the weekend of Oct. 14. The Cornell men will race at the Penn State National Invitational on Friday, Oct. 14 and Cornell will also have athletes racing at the Yellowjacket Invitational in Rochester, N.Y. on Saturday, Oct. 15.