ITHACA, N.Y. -- After a gradual rise to the top of the Ivy League over most of the decade, capped by two straight years of team podium finishes at the Ivy League Heps and two straight years with an individual qualifier for the NCAA cross-country championships, the Big Red faithful are undoubtedly hoping that 2009 might be the year that the men's cross-country team gets back on top with a Heps title.

On paper, there is a ton of reasons for optimism, as the Big Red return three from the top 20 of last year's championship race plus a slew of accomplished track runners. Additionally, the program is certainly going to benefit from the addition of the finest set of newcomers in program history. But races aren't run on paper, and it's hard to really know to expect in 2009 for the Big Red.

To start, the team won't be as strong as it appears at first glance, as they'll be without the services of projected number one man Adrien Dannemiller, who will be taking a semester abroad in Switzerland. Dannemiller enjoyed a spectacular sophomore season at Cornell as he was second-team All-Ivy in both cross-country and track. Outdoors, Dannemiller was the only runner with freshman eligibility (he missed his freshman year with mono) to qualify for the NCAAs in the steeplechase, posting a strong time of 8:48.20. Additionally, top-20 Heps cross-country performer Pete Loy, who enjoyed a breakout 2008, has been unable to train since July due to a knee injury. Loy savored some breakthrough performances in the past year, as he peaked perfectly in cross-country to place 18th in the Heps as the Big Red's fourth man, then repeated as the fourth Cornell runner at the Northeast Regional two weeks later. Loy produced a whopping PR of 8:14.02 for 3,000 meters during the indoor season and qualified for IC4As outdoors with a 5k PR of 14:31.17.

"If Pete can start running within the next week or so, I think he definitely can get back to where he was last year by the time Heps rolls around, but as of now, he still can't even run a mile," said men's distance coach Robert Johnson. "Adrien's absence is definitely going to be felt. Losing your projected top guy is a big blow. We looked into flying him back for Heps as Princeton did last year with one of their top guys, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't something that we felt comfortable doing."

As a result, the expected number one for the Big Red in 2009 will be junior Nate Edelman, who may have been the most improved runner in the country last year. As a frosh, Edelman ran 26:26 at Van Corltandt Park. Last year, he ran 25:17. Remarkably, the 1:09 improvement is something that Edelman almost achieved for 5,000m on the track, as he went from a 15:12.42 as a rookie to 14:04.14 last year, a year in which he was a double scorer outdoors at Heps, including a runner-up showing  in the 10k. Edelman won't be expected to improve as much in 2009-10, as another 68-second improvement would give him the American record in the 5,000m.

Team captains and seniors Dale Taylor and Charlie Hatch both will be hoping that their success in track translates to improved cross-country success in 2009. Taylor is a three-time IC4A track qualifier who set significant PRs at 5k (14:34.39) and 10k (30:47.54) in 2009, the latter placing him a respectable 11th at the IC4A outdoor championships. Hatch is a two-time scorer in the Heps indoor mile and an IC4A finalist in the 1,500. He also led off the team's school record 4 x mile team last year with a strong 4:07.5 split at Penn Relays and contributed stellar leadoff legs at the Penn Relays in the 2008 DMR and 4 x mile Championship of America races. A 25:35 performer in the past at VCP, Hatch is hoping his second straight stint at high altitude training in the summer will result in more consistent cross-country success.

Another middle-distance runner looking to make his mark in cross-country is senior Owen Kimple, who rejoins the Big Red cross-country team after missing last fall while abroad in Australia. Last winter, Kimple contributed a key 800 leg on the indoor Heps champion distance medley relay squad and ran a 2:56.9 split at Notre Dame to lead off the Big Red's Ivy League indoor record-setting DMR team.

Seniors Joel Frost-Tift and Brad Bogdan are two runners that certainly will have no trouble with the 8k or 10k distance found in cross-country, as they are established long-distance runners. Frost-Tift, the most proven of the two, had a breakthrough track season last spring. Only a 9:53.75 3,200 performer in high school, he chopped 40 seconds off his 10k PR as he ran 30:19.62 at Bucknell and went on to score at Heps as part of the Big Red's 19-point domination of the 10k. Bogdan was an IC4A qualifier in the 10k (30:55.37).

In terms of returning veterans, one that can't be forgotten Max Kasak, a junior who ran impressively through mid-season last fall, hovering in the team's 4th or 5th position and posting a season-best time of 24:47 at Paul Short before being hindered by a foot injury prior to Heps. He comes into 2009 after a summer of training where a few days a week he ran with a group coached by former marathon world record holder Khalid Khannouchi. One other runner who might also be a bit under the radar is senior Hassan Shalla. Shalla came basically out of nowhere in 2008 to run a solid 25:38 at VCP as Cornell's sixth man and also made the Regional team for the Big Red.

In addition to the runners already mentioned, Cornell has seniors Kyle Wolpert (25:54 at VCP) and Steve Soprano (31:28.80 10k), who will be aiming to be scoring factors in cross-country. Joining them will be juniors Aaron Anderson and Drew Hart and promising sophomores Chandler Kemp and Teddy Brinkofski. Anderson showed talent with a 1:54.6 4 x 800 leadoff leg at the IC4As off of minimal training, and seems to be fully recovered from stress fractures and able to handle a strong training load. Hart, an Ithaca native and the brother of former Big Red runner Dan Hart '04, ran a respectable 15:00.77 for 5k as a freshman before sitting out the 2009 outdoor season. Kemp made great progress as a rookie, adjusting to the increased college training load and posting good freshman marks of 25:50 for cross-country 8k and 31:33.63 for 10k on the track. Brinkofski nursed injuries during his freshman year but appears healthy and ready to contribute following a summer of injury-free high mileage.

The Big Red effort in 2009 will also be bolstered by an extremely talented group of newcomers. Cornell's freshman distance class is certainly overall the strongest in school history, as six newcomers who ran 9:25 or better for 3,200 last year will join the squad, including three at 9:05 or better.
The top cross-country newcomers include Penn Relays 3k champ Bobby Micikas (8:23 3k, a 9:00 equivalent. for 3,200), Nike Team Nationals (NTN) qualifier and Simplot Games champion Kevin Johnson (9:06 two-mile), NTN qualifier Brett Kelly (9:05), Adam Trofa (9:16), Matt McCullough (9:19 two-mile) and Nate Jacobson (9:25).

However, the most immediate impact may be made by a newcomer who has two years of collegiate experience under his belt, as Matt DeSilva will be joining the Big Red squad as a junior after transferring from Purdue. A Big 10 finalist in the 1,500 at Purdue, DeSilva has a 14:24 5k PR and is a fairly proven cross-country commodity as he clocked 24:35 at Pre-Nats in 2007 the same year he placed 27th at Big 10s.

“It's really hard to know what to expect of this year's team. We certainly have a ton of talent on campus - there's probably at least 15 guys who are talented enough to run in the top five on a Heps championship team - but virtually all of that talent is totally unproven at the collegiate level in terms of top-notch collegiate cross-country success," said Johnson.

"But it's a team I'm really excited about coaching as it's a coach's dream to work with so many guys that may be on the cusp of establishing themselves as exceptional collegiate harriers. Most outsiders probably are looking at our roster and view this as a building year for next year, but we're just going to try to get these guys to focus on the process and focus on improving as runners and hopefully by the end of the year we'll be surprising a lot of people."