TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The Cornell men's cross country team finished seventh out of 44 teams in the highly competitive blue division race with 246 points Friday at the Pre-National Invitational at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, delivering a strong performance against a deep field as the Big Red continued to build momentum toward the postseason.
Cornell finished just three points behind fifth-place North Carolina and sixth-place Arizona, placing ahead of several teams in a competitive field. The Big Red's performance reflected progress since its previous competition at Princeton, with the team executing its race plan and maintaining a strong position throughout the 8-kilometer race.
"The men ran an excellent race," Alan B. '53 and Elizabeth Heekin Harris Head Coach of Men's and Women's Cross Country Mike Henderson said. "They handled the density and crowd well. They established a solid position early, but did not overextend themselves. From 3K to 5K they ran strong and then kept things rolling from there."
Cornell Individual Results
Pierre Attiogbe — 10th, 23:25.9
Aryan Abbaraju — 23rd, 23:41.0
Griffin Mandirola — 40th, 23:52.2
Alex Mazzeo — 52nd, 23:59.2
Matthew O'Brien — 122nd, 24:24.8
Krish Desai — 162nd, 24:33.7
Colin Martens — 194th, 24:44.8
Douglas Antaky — 283rd, 25:20.4
Attiogbe led the Big Red with a 10th-place finish in 23:25.9, while Abbaraju and Mandirola followed in 23rd and 40th, respectively, to give Cornell three runners among the top 40 finishers. Mazzeo rounded out the team's top four in 52nd place.
Cornell also showed resilience throughout the race. Douglas Antaky lost a shoe approximately 1 kilometer into the race but battled through the setback to finish 283rd in 25:20.4.
Henderson said the team was pleased with its progress from the Princeton race while recognizing there is still room to improve.
"We are happy to see the progress from our race at Princeton to here, but also leave hungry for more since we were only three points from fifth (and beating more nationally ranked teams)," Henderson said.
Up Next
Cornell returns to competition Friday, Oct. 23, when it hosts Syracuse at the John Reif Memorial in Ithaca, New York.
