ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cornell men's track and field team will host the Marc Deneault Invitational on Saturday at Barton Hall in Ithaca, N.Y. for its final tune-up before the 2022 Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Track and Field Championships. Field events will get under way at 10 a.m., with action on the track following at 11 a.m.
The Deneault Invite will not only serve as the final home indoor meet of the season for the Big Red, but it will be the last time Cornell will hit the track before Heps, which are just one week away. Cornell will compete on its biggest stage of the season yet next weekend at the 2022 Ivy League indoor championship meet, which is slated for Feb. 26-27 at The Armory in New York.
In addition to the host Big Red, Saturday's meet will feature competitors from over 10 different schools, including in-state rivals Binghamton, St. Bonaventure, and Syracuse, to name a few.
At last weekend's Rutgers Open on Feb. 11-12, junior hurdler Christian Martin continued to trend in the right direction, turning in another impressive 60-meter hurdles performance. Martin finished second in a personal-best 7.91, dropping time for the fifth time in six meets this season. His mark sits second in the Ivy League so far this season and also ranks fourth all-time in Cornell history.
Sophomore Tomas Kersulis, senior Greg Fusco, and the Big Red's distance medley relay team all picked up individual victories for Cornell a week ago. Kersulis emerged victorious in the 400-meter for the second-straight week, crossing the finish line in 47.43. Fusco's win came in the 1,000-meter run, as Cornell had two runners finish in the top-three of the event. Fusco was the first to clock in at 2:26.34, while junior Alex Mocarski placed third with a time of 2:27.08. Both Fusco's and Mocarski's marks were personal-bests.
The Big Red's entirely-freshmen distance medley relay team proved to be a winning combination, as Brady Shute, Fabien De Silva, Jack Lenz, and Damian Hackett finished first in 10:05.10. The team's time shattered the Cornell freshman record in the event, surpassing the previous record of 10:10.13 set by Brian Steck, Will Gibson, Alder Faulkner, and David Taylor in 2013. Hackett has had quite the last two weeks, also breaking the Cornell freshman record in the 3,000-meter run (8:11.27) at the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge on Feb. 5.
