The Cornell women's cross country teams competed very well at the Heps on Friday at a blustery Van Cortlandt Park, and although they returned to Ithaca just short of their team goals, had some remarkable performances. Princeton won for the fifth straight year behind five finishers in the top 11 and individual winner Alex Banfich, a junior who ran the second best time ever at the Heps, 16:58.9. The Big Red entered the meet with aspirations of a top three finish and although the women finished ahead of Harvard, Penn, Dartmouth and Yale, saw Columbia (whom the Big Red had edged by 7 points earlier in the month) and Brown (whom the Big Red had also defeated in early October, but who had a great effort today) finish second and third as the Big Red finished fourth with 98 points.  

The Cornell women were led by a freshman record run of 17:35.0 by Devin McMahon, who earned first team All-Ivy honors in her debut race at Van Cortlandt Park with a seventh place finish. The meet was contested on the fourth different course layout at Van Cortlandt Park in four seasons, as heavy construction on the course the past few years, especially on the flats, has created challenges for meet officials. This year's set-up for the women's 5K was the closest to the original lay-out since that traditional course was last run in 2007 which made the women's 5K times comparable to past championships.

The women raced first, as wind picked up out of the north and a light rain began to fall, with temperatures in the mid-50s. Despite some disappointment in the women's third straight fourth place team finish at the Heps, this year's top five averaged a very impressive 17:58 for the 5K layout, only the second team in Cornell history to average under 18:00 at Van Cortlandt Park. Despite falling short of three teams (Princeton, Columbia and Brown had great days) that had impressive showings, the Big Red women gave a great effort with times that in almost any other year would have yielded the team placing they sought. McMahon and sophomore Kelsey Karys led the Cornell charge throughout with McMahon sticking with the lead pack in an outstanding effort. Her time of 17:35.0, not only a new freshman record, is also the 7th best time run by a Cornellian at Van Cortlandt Park (I've pasted the new top performer list below). Karys produced her best race of the season, running a smart race to finish 19th in 17:59.6, an improvement of nine places and 22 seconds on last year's showing at the Heps. Senior Kim Standridge gave a great effort and a real boost to the Big Red cause with a career-best 21st place finish, running a personal best 18:00.4 in only her second race of the season. She finished just ahead of sophomore Genna Hartung, who had her best race of the season to place 22nd in 18:01.0. Senior captain Maura Carroll ran a Van Cortlandt Park PR of 18:16.6 to place 29th to round out the top five.
The Big Red's strength in 2010 has been its depth, with nine different runners in the top five this season and eleven different runners in the top seven. Today was no different as the Big Red had the second best sixth runner in the race in sophomore Cara Costich, who was 30th in 18:17.0, a 41 second PR at Van Cortlandt Park; and the Big Red had the best seventh runner in the field as senior Kristin Sellers had a 32 second PR of 18:20.0 to place 32nd. Junior Shelby Herman had a 32 second improvement from last year to place 49th in 18:36.0 and classmate Janel Parker had a good debut at the Heps to place 50th in 18:37.2. Also competing for Cornell was junior Meghan Brown (59th, 18:46.7), sohpomore Neesha Schnepf (61st, 18:49.5) and sohpomore Kate Rosettie (66th, 18:56.4) as all twelve Cornell runners broke 19:00.

Complete results can be found here:

Next up for the Big Red women is the NCAA Northeast Regional on Saturday, November 13th.  The meet will be at Hammonasset State Park in Madison, Conn.