PRINCETON, N.J. – Cornell men's cross country continued its strong run of events down the stretch run of its schedule with its best team performance of the season at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships on Saturday. The Big Red finished second amongst the Ancient Eight schools with 74 points. The second place finish marks the highest program finish since 2007, when the Big Red also was runner-up.
 
Princeton continued its run of dominance in men's cross country, winning its seventh Heps title over the past nine seasons and 19^th overall. The next closest squad after the Big Red was Penn (111 points), the Quakers were followed by: Dartmouth (112), Yale (123), Columbia (123), Harvard (146), and Brown (155).
 
Competing in difficult conditions at Princeton's soggy West Windsor Fields, the Cornell men performed admirably. No strangers to less than ideal conditions, the Big Red felt right at home despite temperatures in the low-40's, steady rain, and a fierce wind. The squad certainly used the harsh conditions to its advantage to push the pace over the 8K course.  
 
Freshman Dominic DeLuca continued his spectacular debut season, running aggressively in the top-10 throughout the race. He finished fourth overall with an 8K time of 24:29.3, marking the highest finish by a freshman male at the Heps in several years. The top-five finish netted DeLuca First Team All-Ivy honors.
 
Junior Brian Eimstad again displayed his impressive endurance and second-half race strength as he moved from 32nd at the 3-mile mark all the way up to ninth place overall (24:44.8) to earn Second Team All-Ivy honors. Senior David Melly, running with DeLuca in the front of the pack throughout the race, also earned Second Team All-Ivy honors with a 13th place finish (24:49.3). 
 
Junior Ben Rainero, bravely running with only one shoe after losing the other at the 2-mile mark, finished 24th in 25:01.4. Freshman Josh Dyrland ran as coach Zeb Lang put it, "out of his skull," to place 27th in 25:05.5 to round out the scoring runs for the Big Red. 
 
Also competing well for Cornell were: sophomore James Gowans (48th place, 25:19.6), junior Connor Herr (59th, 25:27.8), junior Tyler Kawalec (61st, 25:32.0), and sophomore David Taylor (72nd, 25:47.1). 
 
Three other freshmen gained valuable championship racing experience: Sam Chauvin (74th, 25:49.6), Michael Wang (81st, 26:06.0), and Will Ronchetti (87th, 26:28.1).
 
The future certainly looks bright for the Big Red, as it will return all competitors except for senior David Melly next season.
 
Compete results (including splits at 1-mile and 3-miles!) can be found at the following link: Click Here.
 
Cornell will return to action in two weeks when it will look to continue its impressive string of strong events at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships at Van Cortlandt Park. The meet will take place on Friday, Nov. 14, and will decide who will be making the trip back to Terre Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Championships the following week.