Day One Results

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One athlete through to the NCAA Championships and three others making it to Saturday's final rounds of their events highlighted the first day of the NCAA East Regionals for the Cornell track and field teams.

Katie Kellner earned a spot in the NCAA 10K with a third-place finish in Jacksonville on Thursday night, and she will compete against 23 other athletes in Des Moines, Iowa in two weeks. Getting bids in Friday's event finals were Kenny McClain and Molly Glantz in the 400 hurdles and Rutger Admirand in the 800.

Kellner was either in first or second place for the entirety of her 10K race on Thursday, helping to set the pace. She crossed the finish line in third place after being passed late in the final lap by a couple of athletes from other schools, but her time of 34:22.98 was more than good enough to earn her a trip to Iowa in a fortnight.

McClain was the first Big Red athlete of the day to move on to the next round. Competing in the fifth heat of the 400-meter hurdles, McClain crossed the finish line in 51.67 seconds. That time was good for third in his heat and an automatic spot in Friday's event finals as well as being 15th out of 48 runners. If McClain finishes in the top 12 tomorrow, he will make the NCAA Championships.

Right after McClain, Cornell got more good news when Glantz advanced to the finals of the women's 400 hurdles. Glantz did not earn an automatic spot, finishing fourth in her heat with a time of 59.43 seconds. But after all six heats were completed, Glantz had the third-best time of thte athlets who did not finish in the top three of their heat. The NCAA advances the next nine best times to the finals, and Glantz easily made the cut there. The 400 hurdle finals will take place at 7:30 p.m. (men) and 7:45 p.m. Friday night.

Freshman Rutger Admirand had a terrific race in heat two of the 800, leading nearly the entire race until being passed with about 100 meters left. Still, he was able to place third in the heat and earn an automatic trip to Friday's final qualifier. Also running in that heat with Admirand was Will Weinlandt.  The sophomore faded a bit with approximately 200 meters to go, and he fell to seventh in the heat, eventually missing the cut for Friday's finals.

Also competing on Friday for Cornell was Victoria Imbesi in the women's javelin, Anjelique Parnell in the women's long jump, Chase Aaronson and Steven Bell in the men's long jump, Stephen Mozia and Bob Belden in the men's discus and Brett Kelly in the men's 10K.

Mozia was the closest to qualifying for the next round, placing 19th out of the initial 48 with a top throw of 171' 10”. The top 12 athletes advanced to the NCAA Championships. Belden's throw of 165' 2” put him in 34th place.

Bell and Aaronson also put forth excellent efforts but missed the top 12. Bell took 39th with a long jump of 22' 5”, and Aaronson was 44th with a jump of 21' 11”.

Imbesi, meanwhile, placed 39th in the women's javelin throw. Throwing 126' 7” on her first attempt, Imbesi fared a foot and a half better on her final throw when she reached 128'.

Parnell's trip to the East Regionals ended when she placed 42nd in the long jump with a best leap of 18' 3 3/4”. After fouling in her first jump attempt, Parnell reached 17' 4 3/4” on her second try. Sitting in last to that point, Parnell mustered a great effort on her final jump to improve by 11 full inches and move up five spots at that time.

Kelly completed the 10K in just over 30 minutes, but he crossed the line in 16th place when only the top 12 advance to the NCAA Championships. Kelly, who was seeded 16th heading into the event, finished in 30:43.81 in exactly the place he was seeded.

Besides Glantz, McClain and Admirand's second races, Friday's action will see five other Big Red athletes attempt to make the NCAA Championships: Claire Dishong in the pole vault, Dan Scott in the triple jump, Ailish Hanly in the high jump and Genna Hartung and Rachel Sorna in the 3K steeplechase.