ITHACA, N.Y. -- Led by terrific performances from the seniors as well as some impressive underclass results, the Cornell women's track and field team opened up the indoor season at the 17-team Cornell Relays in Barton Hall on Friday and Saturday. The Big Red had a very good first meet, with impressive depth and breadth, winning 10 events and finishing in the top three over 25 times while also producing 4 ECAC qualifiers and adding a pair of new marks to the all-time top 10 lists.
Senior co-captain Jess Weyman led a 1-2-3-4 Cornell sweep (and five of the top six overall) in the 500, as she PRed and moved to #7 all-time with an ECAC-qualifying 1:14.85. Classmates
Megan Williams (1:16.46) and Kate Backel (1:16.84) were second and third and freshman
Libby O'Brien was fourth in 1:17.00. Sophomore
Molly Glantz was sixth in 1:17.93. Sophomore
Melissa Hewitt looked very strong in the 60, cruising to 7.61 in the prelims and again bettering the ECAC standard with a 7.57 event win in the finals. Senior
Krystal Williams was third in 7.84. Other notable performances on the track included sophomore
Kelsey Reimnitz's third place dash of 41.74 in the 300 and classmate Dani Silas' third place 9.20 in the 60 hurdles; another sophomore,
Taylor Baird, ran 9.16 in the prelims.
In the jumps, freshman Lindsay Patterson became the second Cornellian over 12 feet with a 12-3 1/2 clearance to easily best the ECAC standard; sophomore Sam Brady matched her #7 all-time performance in the school record books with a second place clearance of 11-3 3/4. Elsewhere in the field, sophomore
Kristin Brandt competed great and was a double winner, reaching 18-0 1/4 in the long jump and just missed the ECAC standard with a 38-6 3/4 performance in the triple jump. Junior Kim Lienhoop was second in both, reaching 17-8 and 37-7 1/4 while freshman
Sonate Dan-Princewill was third in the long jump at 17-6. Another freshman,
Ailish Hanly, took third in her debut for Cornell, clearing 5-1 in the high jump.
In the throws, junior Cassie Schweighofer won the weight in a PR of 50-5 1/2 while sophomore
Erin Rossi had a five foot PR to place third in 49-2 1/4. Freshman
Victoria Imbesi impressed in her first collegiate meet, winning the shot put with a mark of 42-11, Schweighofer was second in 41-3 and freshman
Emily Koppelman was third in 40-0 1/2. In Friday night's pentathlon, sophomore
Karen Schillinger was third with 3086 points.
In relay action, Cornell displayed remarkable depth. In the DMR, freshman
Alyssa O'Connor ran the 1200 leg, freshman Julie Fiore covered the 400 leg, senior
Lindsay Broyhill ran 800 meters and junior
Lauren Bariexca ran a strong 1600 meter anchor leg as the team ran 12:21.30 for first. The quartet of junior
Alana Levy, sophomore
Bry Bonavita, freshman
Maria Catanzarite and sophomore
Janel Parker ran 12:29.29 for third. In the 4X800, senior
Jeanell English, Broyhill, junior
Anna Scull and Catanzarite teamed up to win in 9:31.05 while Bonavita, Parker, Standridge and Bariexca were third. Despite a fall on the first lap of the race that claimed Dani Silas, the Big Red 4X400s managed to rally for good performances. Freshman
Mercy Gbenjo, Williams, Backel and O'Brien came from behind to win in 3:57.80. Despite Silas' fall, Weyman, Reimnitz and Glantz rallied for fourth.
Complete results can be found here:
Cornell Relays Results
Complete pentathlon results:
Pentathlon Results
Final exams begin next week and the Big Red track teams will return to action early in the New Year with the Cornell Southern Tier Collegiate Open in Barton Hall on Friday, January 8th.
