CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - At Harvard's Gordon track facility, the Cornell men's team came up short in its bid for a third straight Indoor Heps win, finishing second with 98 points behind Princeton's 161.  Brown was third with 78, followed by Penn (75), Harvard (64.5), Dartmouth (59), Columbia (56), and Yale (21.5).
 
Highlights for the squad included a new school record in the weight throw by sophomore Rudy Winkler who was named MVP of the field events at the meet. Overall, Cornell athletes posted six all-time top-ten performances in school history, three event wins, three runner-up performances, and four third-place finishes.
 
The following is the event-by-event breakdown, *(IC4A) denotes an IC4A-qualifying performance:
 
The weight was one of the wilder throwing events in recent memory.  Sophomore Rudy Winkler launched a 68' 0.5" (IC4A) bomb for a school record-setting victory, breaking the previous top mark of junior Bryan Rhodes who was second in 65' 11" (IC4A).   Senior Stephen Mozia finished ninth in 56' 3.75" (IC4A) after one of his preliminary throws got stuck in an overhead net and he received an additional throw upon appeal.  That additional throw also went into the net.  After again retrieving the implement, Stephen's final throw was not enough to qualify him for finals.
 
Mozia returned to his signature event, the shot put, dominating the field with a 63' 1" (IC4A) for the event win. He is currently in the mix to advance to the NCAA Championships in two weeks in this event.
 
Sophomore Grant Sisserson followed up on last weekend's Ivy League record-setting performance to win this event in 17' 0.75" (IC4A) as senior Keith Rayburn tied for second in 16' 8.75" (IC4A) and senior Steven Pawlak placed ninth at 15' 1".  Sisserson is currently anticipating a bid to the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
 
Freshman Myles Lazarou placed fourth in the high jump (6' 10.25", IC4A) to match his seasonal best and 10^th best leap in school history.  Junior Stephen Afadapa was fifth at 6' 9" (IC4A) and sophomore Joe Mankovecky was 12th at 6' 4.25".
 
Junior Ryan Hynes set a seasonal best in the long jump with a 23' 5.5" (IC4A) to place fourth and sophomore Justin Love, competing in his first long jump this year, was clutch in fifth place at 23' 3.25" (IC4A).  Sophomore Austin Jamerson was sixth at 22' 8" and freshman Alex Rodriguez was ninth in 21' 2.25".
 
Sophomore John Enkler hit 47' 5.75" (IC4A) to get sixth in the triple jump, while freshman Oseoba Airewele was 10th in 47' 1.25".
 
Jamerson, an unsung hero of the meet, kept himself busy in the heptathlon to score 5,242 points (IC4A) for third place.  His point total improved on his previous #3 position on the Cornell all-time list.  Jamerson's performances were: 60 dash, 7.25, 796 pts; long jump, 22'5", 774 points; shot put, 34'0.25", 508 points; high jump, 6'9", 859 points; 60 hurdles, 8.28, 913 points; pole vault, 13'3.5", 631 points; 1000m, 2:50.45, 761 points             
 
Ryan Hynes ran a strong 60 dash time of 6.91 (IC4A, 6.92 prelims) to finish third.  Freshman Brailin Paulino missed scoring by 0.005 seconds in seventh place in 6.93 (6.928, IC4A) after running 6.92 in the prelims.
 
Sophomore Wynn Curtis (8.15, IC4A), sophomore Jamerson (8.19, IC4A, tied for #8 all-time), and sophomore Justin Love (8.21, IC4A, #10 all-time) all had monster prelim races in the 60 hurdles.  In the final, Jamerson was sixth (8.28), Love was seventh (8.29), and Curtis eighth (8.51).
 
The first year of contesting the 200 event at the Indoor Heps was filled with disqualifications for lane violations and false starts.  Brailin Paulino ultimately placed third in 22.63 (22.22 in prelims, IC4A).  Freshman Stanford Cooper ran 22.44 in the prelims, while freshman Michael Smith ran a time fast enough to qualify for finals, but was disqualified for running out of his lane on the tight curve.
 
Sophomore Tobe Attah blazed to a runner-up performance of 48.25 (IC4A, #8 all-time) in the 400, after running 49.10 in the prelims. Michael Smith ran a fine prelim time of 48.36 (IC4A), but had to withdraw from the final due to injury.
 
Senior captain Cisco Olloqui tweaked his hamstring eight steps into his prelim in the 500, but held on to run 1:05.77 for 13th place.
 
The 800 went straight to a final with only nine entrants.  Freshman Alex Clapacs ran 1:56.56 for eighth.
 
Freshman Chase Silverman ran 2:32.49 for 17th in the prelims, while senior Sam Belcher came up 0.28 seconds short of making the final in 2:30.50 (11th overall).
 
Junior Ben Rainero made a statement in winning his mile prelim from the front in 4:07.66 (IC4A), fending off a challenge from 4:00-miler Rob Napolitano from Columbia with a 59.4 last quarter.  In the other prelim, sophomore James Gowans used his closing speed (57.3 last quarter) to qualify for finals in 4:10.29 (IC4A).  In the final, both milers played to their strengths, with Rainero attempting to break the field in the third quarter (he led with a quarter to go before finishing seventh in 4:10.38) and James Gowans turning on the jets to close in 57.9 to finish third in 4:07.40.
 
Running in the unseeded section, junior Connor Herr and senior David Melly made a bold attempt to set a fast pace up front in the 3000. The duo looked to try to score by overall time, coming through the first 1600 in a brisk 4:21.  Melly would ultimately place ninth in 8:16.20 (IC4A).
 
Working through a large field of 30 competitors, junior Brian Eimstad placed eighth in the 5000 with a finishing time of 14:29.20 (IC4A).
 
(Note: All relay splits are in yards due to Harvards 220-yard track configuration.)
 
The distance runners rebounded from a tough Sunday afternoon to place fourth in the distance medley relay with a finishing time of 9:59.39 (IC4A).  Gowans led off the 3/4-mile leg in 3:04.4, Herr ran 51.75 in the ¼-mile, senior Roemer ran 1:54.8 in the ½ mile, and Rainero ran the fastest mile relay split of the day (4:08.4) to bring the team back from a large deficit to finish ahead of Princeton's squad and just behind Columbia's.
 
The 4x880 relay squad just missed scoring, with a seventh place finish in 7:49.59 (IC4A).  Splits: Melly (1:57.4), Sam Belcher (1:55.2), Chase Silverman (1:56.6), Alex Clapacs (2:00.4)
 
The 4x440 team of Attah (49.7), Curtis (50.5), Hynes (50.9, stepping up considerably from his customary short sprints to help the team), and Cooper (48.2) placed fifth in 3:19.30 (IC4A).
 
Live results here: www.lancertiming.com/results/winter15/IVYHEPS/index.htm
 
Next weekend the Big Red will return to Boston for the IC4A Championships at Boston University on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8.