Complete Results

BOSTON – It was a historic weekend for Cornell track and field as the Big Red men and women swept the Eastern track and field championships, with the women placing first in the ECAC team competition to become the first Ivy League women's team to ever win an ECAC team track title and the men claiming the historic IC4A team title for the second time in six seasons. Both teams competed great just a week removed from dramatic second-place team finishes at the Heps in Barton Hall.

The Cornell women claimed a tight-fought team victory that came down to the final three events, as Cornell overcame a late deficit to score a program-best 55 points at the indoor ECACs, one point ahead of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Trailing Maryland-Eastern Shore by 10 points with the 3K, 4x800 and 4x400 still remaining, the Big Red scored 19 points in those events to come away with a thrilling one-point win. Cornell placed first in the 4x800, placed third in both the DMR and 4x400 and had three runner-up individual showings on the weekend as junior Victoria Imbesi in the shot put, junior Katie Kellner in the 5000 and Janel Parker in the 1000 all took second.

Also key to the team's victory was the inspired double by junior Genna Hartung, who stepped down in distance to place seventh in the mile before placing sixth in the 3000 just an hour later to help secure the team victory.

The Big Red got off to a strong start on Saturday, scoring 16 day-one points to find itself in a first-place tie with defending champion Connecticut. In addition, the Big Red had six qualifiers through to Sunday's final. Junior Victoria Imbesi got Cornell on the board with a terrific second-place effort in the shot put, reaching 49' 2 1/2” despite competing sick. Consistent all season, Imbesi was a scant centimeter from her lifetime best set last week at the Heps.

In the 5K, Kellner ran a very tough race and put her own recent illness behind her with a gritty second-place run of 16:25.57, her second best career time, less than a quarter second from first. Moving assertively to the lead in the last mile, she had a great battle with the eventual champion from Vermont in the last lap.

Several Cornellians competed very well to advance to finals. Hartung did a great job with a three-second personal record of 4:53.44 to move on in the mile. Sophomore Ryan Woolley had a huge personal record to advance in the 400 in 56.15. Senior co-captain Molly Glantz won her heat of the 500 to advance with a time of 1:14.58, and senior Janel Parker nabbed a finals spot with a run of 2:52.59 in the 1000.

In the relays, the 4x800 of freshman Tess Berghoff (2:15.6), sophomore Lauren Lloyd (2:13.8), senior Bry Bonavita (2:13.9) and junior Liz Reamer (2:18.5) ran 9:02.08 to win their qualifying heat while the 4x400 team of sophomore Ebolutalese Airewele (57.2), senior Kelsey Reimnitz (56.9), junior Libby O'Brien (55.9) and freshman Kena Kolliesuah (55.4) ran 3:45.73 to advance.

There were several near misses in terms of advancing to finals: Sophomore Dale Kinney missed the mile final by one to get 11th in a personal-best 4:56.51, freshman Katie Woodford also missed out by one place with a 10th-place 24.85 in the 200, and O'Brien had a big personal record to place 15th in the 400 in 56.51.

Also running in the preliminary rounds were Lloyd (15th, 2:12.04), Bonavita (16th, 2:12.43), Berghoff (18th, 2:13.00, a personal record) and Reamer (24th, 2:14.11) in the 800 and senior Taylor Baird in the 60 hurdles (18th, 8.82). In Saturday's field events, junior Ailish Hanly cleared 5' 6” to place 17th.

Sunday got off to a very good start for the Big Red on the track as the distance medley relay placed third in the seventh-best time in school history, 11:40.25. Kinney led off for 1200 in 3:36.9, freshman Emily Woodford split 57.7 over 400, Lloyd ran 2:11.8 for 800 and freshman Marianne Collard ran a terrific 1600 anchor of 4:53.9. The Big Red had a string of strong seventh-place individual showings in the next few events. In the mile, Hartung ran a great race, closing her last 800 in 2:24 and crossing the line in 4:53.77, Woolley ran fantastic again in a personal record (and No. 9 all-time) 55.78 in the 400, and Glantz ran 1:14.02 in the 500.

Cornell picked up big points in the 1000 as Parker had a great race to steadily move up the field to place second in 2:49.77. Then, just an hour after the mile, Hartung stepped up to run the 3K, patiently moving up the field to place fourth in her heat and sixth overall in 9:46.88, closing out the race in a final mile of 5:08 in a gutsy effort.

That set the stage for an exciting conclusion to the women's meet in the relays. Trailing Maryland-Eastern Shore by seven, the 4x800 stormed to a nine-second victory to put the Big Red up by three going into the 4x400. In the 4x800, Reamer led off in 2:18.0, Lloyd ran a great 2:12.2, Bonavita split a seasonal-best 2:11.5 and Glantz anchored the team to victory in 2:08.7 as the team ran 8:50.25, No. 3 all-time in school history.

With the 4x400 final divided into two sections, the Big Red would not get an opportunity to race against Maryland-Eastern Shore, as the two teams were in different races. The Big Red did all that could be asked and more by winning their 4x400 section, running a seasonal-best 3:44.25 behind legs from Reimnitz (57.7), Kolliesuah (55.3), O'Brien (55.9) and Katie Woodford (55.1). The Big Red's time held up for third overall and with Maryland Eastern-Shore placing second in the event, Cornell claimed the ECAC team title by one point.

In addition to these scoring performances, there were several close calls in the field on Sunday: senior Kristin Brandt (9th, 39-1 1/2) and junior Savannah Johnson (15th, 38' 5”) in the triple jump and freshman Lindsey Enders (13th, 12' 1 1/2”), senior Sam Brady, juniors Lindsey Patterson and Claire Dishong (16th, 11' 9 3/4”) in the pole vault all did well.

Next up for the Big Red is the Indoor NCAAs in Boise, Idaho on March 9-10. The Cornell men have two likely qualifiers (the official fields will be announced on Monday) with Montez Blair in the high jump and Stephen Mozia in the shot put. The Cornell women have two women ranked in the top 24 in their respective events (Katie Kellner in the 5K and Melissa Hewitt in the long jump) but with the field sizes typically around 16, they are not likely to gain a bid. After that, the Big Red head to California for the annual spring trip, with meets at Cal-State Northridge on March 17 and UC Irvine on March 23-24.