Cornell Takes the Indoor Title
BOSTON, Mass. - The Cornell men's track and
field team won its first IC4A track championship since 1930 on
Sunday, March 4, at Boston University, in the process becoming the
first Ivy League team in 35 years to claim the coveted trophy. Not
to be denied after a second-place finish at last week's Heps, the
Big Red out-pointed Seton Hall by five points and Georgetown by
eight in claiming three event wins and two runner-up showings and
scoring 50 points overall. The IC4A is comprised of over 70
Division I Eastern colleges and 52 schools scored at this year's
championships.
Cornell closed out their IC4A championship (they were second
indoors in 2006) with thrilling relay finishes by the 4X800 (first
for the third straight year indoors) and 4X400 (second). But they
were put in great position thanks to the outstanding individual
efforts of high jumpers David Pell and Garrett Huyler and triple
jumper Rayon Taylor. As with the Heps, Pell and Huyler came through
in the clutch as both cleared 6-11 1/2. This time, senior Pell took
the IC4A title with sophomore Huyler in second. Taylor claimed the
sixth best triple jump in the history of the Ivy League, setting a
PR 52-1 1/4 (also an NCAA provisional mark) to place first after
getting third last year. Due also to sophomore Marcel van Eeden's
8th place (48.20; he ran 47.94, #2 all-time at Cornell, in the
prelims!) in the 400 and junior Saidu Ezike's 6th place (7.44) run
in the 55 hurdles, the Big Red entered the final two relays with 32
points to set the stage for a thrilling
finish.
The men's 4X800 won its fifth consecutive IC4A 4X800 title (three
straight years indoors as well as the past two years outdoors) with
a thrilling come from behind victory. Senior Brian Mongeon,
sophomore Andy Miller and junior Mike Smayda ran very well to give
their anchor, junior Jimmy Wyner, a chance to win. Running in a
tight race with Penn and Georgetown, Wyner ran 55.7 in his final
400 en route to a 1:52.5 800 split as the team ran 7:37.28 to
triumph by half a second. The Big Red made the final thanks to
sophomore Eric Ryan, junior Ian Ward, senior Will Seidel and Miller
running 7:39.28 on Saturday.
Leading eventual team runner-up Seton Hall by seven points
entering the meet's final event, the Big Red merely needed to
finish respectably in their heat of the 4X400 finals to insure a
team victory but they finished the meet in style, running the #2
time in the history of the Ivy League (3:11.13) to place a close
second to a very good Seton Hall team. Van Eeden led off in 47.7,
freshman Michael Kippins split 47.9, senior Kolby Hoover ran 48.2
and junior Adam Seabrook closed in a fantastic 47.2. The squad made
the finals with a preliminary round 3:12.00 thanks to 47.8 from Van
Eeden, 48.3 by Kippins, 48.4 from Hoover nad 47.5 from
Seabrook.
The men's team title was Cornell's first outright IC4A indoor
track championship since 1922 as the 1930 squad tied for first. And
the Big Red became the first Heps team since Penn in 1972 to win
the prestigious championship.
Junior Greg Gomes (Somerset, N.J.) continued his winning ways for
Seton Hall, placing first in the 500-meter with a time of 1:01.40,
missing his own facility record by one hundredth of a second.
In the 800-meter event, sophomores Rob Novak (Bordentown, N.J) and
James Gurr (Sydney, Australia) finished second and third,
respectively for the Pirates. Novak clocked in at 1:50.75, and Gurr
finished in 1:50.91. Sophomore Jemel Williams (Bronx, N.Y.)
was the runner-up in the 400-meter (47.69), and Jestin McKenzie
(Marlboro, Md.) earned sixth place honors in the 1,000-meter
(2:28.07). Seton Hall's 4x400 team of Gurr, McKenzie,
Williams and Gomes ran their race in 3:10.72 to earn the
victory.
Top Ten Team Standings
1) Cornell
University 50
2) Seton Hall
University 45
3) Georgetown
University 42
4) University at
Albany 37
5) US Military
Academy
36
6) Syracuse
University 35
6) College Of William &
Mary 35
8) Liberty
University 30.50
9) Manhattan
College 29
10) Bucknell
University 27
Full
Results
