Zeb Lang enters his fifth season coaching the Big Red in 2016-2017 and is in charge of guiding the men’s cross country team and the track & field team in the middle-distance and long-distance events.
The 2015-2016 season was a banner year for coach Lang’s crew. In the fall, the Big Red cross country squad finished 3rd in the Northeast Region (best team finish since 2005) as Ben Rainero and Brian Eimstad competed at the NCAA Championships, the first time multiple Cornell men have qualified for NCAAs since 1992. Dom DeLuca, Eimstad, and Rainero made both the All-Ivy and All-Region teams as the squad missed winning the Heps by only 10 points and finished 4th place overall. Eimstad and Rainero were named Academic All-Ivy and DeLuca was named to the Academic All-American team.
Indoors, Rainero set the school record at 3k (7:58.63) and won the Heps 3k, the first Cornell male to win the event since 1986. James Gowans became the first to break the four minute mile barrier on Staten Island when he set a new school record (3:58.24) in February and went on to place 9th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, earning second team All-American honors, Cornell’s first male distance qualifier for the NCAA indoor meet since 1994. Lang’s athletes set six marks that rank in Cornell’s all-time top-10, with three of them set by Mark Tedder (1:51.33 – 800m, 4:03.47 – mile, and 8:02.77 for 3k, where he was the IC4A runner-up).
Outdoors, Rainero was named the Heps conference meet Track MVP after sweeping the 5k and 10k as the Big Red rolled to a win with a meet record of 211 points, 40 of them scored by the Cornell middle-distance and long-distance runners. Ben Rainero (seasonal bests of 3:43 for 1500, 14:04 for 5k, and 29:41 for 10k) was again named Academic All-Ivy and joined Mark Tedder (seasonal bests of 1:51 for 800, 3:44 for 1500, and 13:57 for 5k) with Academic All-American honors. At UCLA in April, Tedder became just the third Cornell runner ever to break 14 minutes for 5k with his 13:57 win and the first to do so at Cornell since 1994. Five individuals (Gowans-1500m, Connor Herr-steeplechase, Rainero-5k, David Taylor-10k, and Tedder-5k) qualified for the NCAA First Round, with Gowans advancing to the NCAA Championships in Eugene in the 1500 with a seasonal best of 3:42. Lang’s group set 10 marks that rank top-10 in Cornell history, including Sam Baxter’s 4:04 mile at UCLA that broke the school record that had stood since 1974. David Taylor notched seasonal bests of 14:08 for 5k and 29:14 for 10k and Connor Herr ran 8:56 in the steeple. Coach Lang was voted the USTFCCCA Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year for the 2016 outdoor season.
In 2014-2015, the men’s cross-country team had its best season since 2007, finishing 2nd in the Heps behind All-Ivy performances from Dominic DeLuca (finishing 4th, the best freshman placing in decades), Brian Eimstad, and Academic All-American David Melly. Those three also earned NCAA Northeast All-Region accolades for their top-25 individual placings, leading the team to a 5th-place team finish. The squad received votes in the national poll for the first time since 2004.
During the indoor season, the Big Red was again second in the Heps as Lang’s student-athletes notched five top-ten marks in school history behind James Gowans (1:49-800, 4:04-mile), Ben Rainero (4:04), and Jonny Phillips (14:23-5k), who sliced 35 seconds off his 5k personal best over the season.
Outdoors, the milers and steeplers led the squad as Gowans (2nd at Heps) and Rainero both advanced to the NCAA First Round in the 1500 with 3:45 seasonal bests as Academic All-American David Melly (2nd at Heps, 8:51) and Connor Herr (3rd, 8:53) also advanced to the NCAA First Round. All four individual marks rank in the top ten in school history on a squad that was runner-up at the Heps.
In 2013-2014, Cornell won the Heps title during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Indoors, Lang guided Will Weinlandt to his second consecutive conference championship in the 800 as his teammates recorded five performances that rank in the top-ten in school history. New freshmen records were set in the DMR and the mile (James Gowans, 4:06.20) as the squad also won the IC4A title.
Outdoors, Zeb’s athletes set five all-time top-ten marks in school history, including a 1:49 anchor leg by Will Weinlandt at Penn Relays that helped the sprint medley squad break a school record that had been last set in 1969. Two athletes qualified for the NCAA Preliminary round in the 800 (Weinlandt) and steeplechase, where David Melly improved his personal best by sixteen seconds over the course of the season.
Over the entire 2013-2014 year, Lang guided eighteen of his athletes to IC4A-qualifying performances with top times of 1:48 at 800 (Weinlandt), 3:47 at 1500 (James Gowans & Ben Rainero), 8:58 in the steeplechase (Melly), 14:13 at 5k (Brian Eimstad), and 29:59 at 10k (Eimstad). Three student-athletes were honored with Academic All-American honors (Melly, Mark Tedder, and Weinlandt).
In 2012-2013, Lang led the cross-country team to a fourth-place finish at the Heps as the Big Red had its best point total since 2008 with four finishers in the top twenty and two All-Ivy Second Team finishers (Nick Wade & Max Groves). At the Northeast Regional meet, Cornell again turned in its best score since 2008 in placing seventh behind All-Region performer Nick Wade.
During the indoor season, Cornell won the Heps title for the first time since 2009 as Nick Wade was meet Co-MVP, Will Weinlandt was the 800-meter champion, and the 4x800-meter relay team won Cornell’s first conference title in the event since 1975. Wade also set the school record in the mile (3:59.998) and his teammates combined for eleven performances that place top-ten in school history.
In the outdoor season, Zeb’s athletes set a school record at 800 meters (Will Weinlandt, 1:48.43) and a freshman record in the steeplechase (Connor Herr, 8:55.41), as five athletes qualified for the NCAA Preliminary meet and the Cornell middle-distance and long-distance runners recorded six all-time top-ten marks in Cornell history.
Over the entire 2012-2013 year, Lang guided twenty-six of his athletes to IC4A-qualifying performances, two men under 4:03 in the mile (Wade, John Schilkowsky), two under 8:10 at 3,000 meters (Schilkowsky, Andy Arnold), two under 9:00 in the steeplechase (Herr, Teddy Brinkofski), and Brett Kelly ran 14:09 at 5,000 meters and 29:14 in the 10,000 meters, where he joined Max Groves and Matt McCullough in breaking 30:00. Rutger Admirand also ran 1:03 for 500 meters indoors in placing second at the Heps. Two student-athletes were honored with Academic All-American honors (Brett Kelly and Will Weinlandt).
In 2012, Zeb helped guide Brett Kelly to 29:24 in the 10,000 meters, Max Groves to 14:15 in the 5,000 meters, and John Schilkowsky to 4:03 in the indoor mile. He also assisted in coaching Rutger Admirand, Will Weinlandt, and Nick Wade to sub-1:50 800-meter races.
In 2011, Lang worked with two distance runners who earned a berth in the NCAA outdoor championships, where Adrien Dannemiller competed in the steeplechase and Nate Edelman earned an All-American finish in the 10,000 meters.
Over the past six years, Zeb has guided nine sub-30:00 10,000-meter runners, fifteen 5,000-meter runners who have run 14:30 or faster, four sub-9:00 steeplechasers, eleven 1,500-meter runners who clocked 3:50 or faster, and eight 800-meter runners who ran 1:51 or faster.
Lang also advises a small group of Cornell team alumni in post-collegiate competition and has guided Tyler Eustance ’15 to a top-25 finish at the 2016 Boston Marathon, a 2nd place finish at the 2016 Buffalo Marathon, and an overall personal best of 2:24 at the 2016 Chicago Marathon. Jonny Phillips ’15 placed 4th in 2:25 at the 2016 Detroit Marathon in his debut and 4th place (24:23) in the 2016 Philadelphia Marathon Rothman 8k, where David Melly ’15 placed 6th (24:27). Both Phillips and Melly placed top-20 at the 2016 USATF New England XC Championship and competed at the 2016 USATF Club XC Championship in Tallahassee, FL.
As an undergraduate, Lang competed in cross-country for four years, earning a varsity letter his senior year and competing at the Heptagonal Championships and NCAA Northeast Regional Championships in 2002. Zeb was also a member of the 2002 Cornell squad that won the IC4A Cross-Country Championship for the first time since 1921. In track & field, Lang competed in the long-distance events and during his senior year, Cornell won Heptagonal Championships in both indoor and outdoor track & field.
Zeb received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Cornell in 2003 and spent the following year as a volunteer assistant while working in Cornell’s Department of Alumni Affairs. After a five year stint as a real estate accountant in Denver, Lang returned to Ithaca in 2009 and completed his MBA at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management in May 2011 before gaining experience as a senior financial analyst at Merck in 2011-2012. Lang has four years of volunteer coaching experience for the Big Red men under his predecessor Robert Johnson. He served as a volunteer assistant coach from 2009-2012 and also volunteered during the 2003-2004 school year.
Zeb has run eleven marathons and resides in Ithaca with his wife Leah Scolere and their energetic black Labrador, Reykja.
Updated 12/19/16
