BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Cornell men's cross country team returned to action in their second race of the 2009 season, competing on Friday at Lehigh's Paul Short Invitational. Racing in ideal weather conditions against a nationally competitive field, junior Nate Edelman ran an inspired race to set a school record on the 8K course to finish a very impressive fifth and lead the men to a seventh place team showing in the Gold Race.

Edelman ran a great race to put himself in the lead pack, making a strong bid for the win in the last 800 meters. He ultimately finished fifth in a school record of 23:42 for the 8K layout on Lehigh's course.  Also running very well was junior Matt De Silva, who was with Edelman for much of the early stages of the race. In his debut race for the Big Red after transferring from Purdue, De Silva placed 32nd overall in 24:22.  Senior co-captain Charlie Hatch was 64th in 24:42 and was followed closely by freshman Brett Kelly, who was 81st in 24:48. Senior Brad Bogdan rounded out the top five with a new personal best at Lehigh, with a time of 24:49 for 82nd. Senior Joel Frost-Tift was 86th in 24:50 and junior Max Kasak was 93rd in 24:53 to close out Cornell's top seven.  Also running in the championship Gold Race for Cornell was senior co-captain Dale Taylor (140th, 25:14), freshman Kevin Johnson (163rd, 25:21) and sophomore Chandler Kemp (206th, 25:32). The Big Red men entered the meet with higher aspirations than their seventh place showing in the field of 42 teams. Nevertheless, Cornell scored 259 points, a mere 19 behind Heps rival Dartmouth and over 200 points ahead of 14th place Penn; the race had 386 finishers. On the bright side, Cornell's average time for the top five (24:29) is one of the best the team has produced on the Lehigh course. A resurgent Indiana team won the team title.

In addition to Cornell's efforts in the Gold Championships races, Cornell was well represented in the Open race earlier in the day. Junior Drew Hart had a big personal best to place fourth in 25:01, while senior Kyle Wolpert impressed with a very good run of 25:15 for sixth. Senior Dan Cerqueira also boasted a big PR in placing 18th in 25:33, senior Owen Kimple was 20th in 25:33 and freshman Adam Trofa was 21st in 25:34 as the group scored 69 points to claim first as well. Also running for Cornell was sophomore Mike Esposito (23rd, 25:36), senior Hassan Shalla (25th, 25:39), sophomore Teddy Brinkofski (30th, 25:46), senior Pete Loy (33rd, 25:47), junior David Frankel (38th, 25:53), junior Aaron Anderson (56h, 26:04), and Tom Shouler (116th, 26:40).

Complete results can be found at the following web-sites:
Men's Championship Gold Race:
http://www.paulshortxcrun.com/PaulShort/Results/2009_CM_Gold.html

Men's Open Race:
http://www.paulshortxcrun.com/PaulShort/Results/2009_CM_JV.html