Women's Preview

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell cross country teams head to the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships and while many things stay the same, much will be different this year.

The League remains highly competitive and the tradition of the meet unmatched, but for the first time since 1979 on the men's side and for the first time since 1981 on the women's, the Cross Country Heps will not be at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Due to construction at the historic venue, the Heps will instead be contested at West Windsor Fields on the Princeton campus.

This season has been a promising one for Cornell with young athletes stepping up and playing major roles all year. Cornell started the season with a win against Army and Binghamton and followed that up with a second-place finish at the Colgate Invitational the following week. In the nationally competitive Paul Short meet, the Big Red took 12th place out of 45 teams and then claimed third of 16 in the Yellowjacket Invitational at Rochester.

In the most telling race this year, Cornell's top runners took first in Oct. 21st's Princeton Invitational, which was held on the same course as this year's Heps.

Cornell's men last won the Heps title in 1993 and have won five total in school history. The Big Red finished fifth last year, eight points behind fourth-place Penn, but enjoyed three consecutive years of placing at least third before that.

The men will run their traditional 8K distance while the women will move up to 6K for the first time ever. The meet was last held at Princeton (at Battlefield Park) in 1947.

The men race at 11 a.m., while the women's 6K race is scheduled for noon.