Fifth-year Aaron Davidson recorded a championship performance during his impressive season debut Saturday to lead Cornell’s No. 10 regionally-ranked men at the 60th Annual Les Duke Cross Country Invitational at Grinnell College Golf Course.
The defending Midwest Conference champion, Davidson was the class of Saturday’s deep field that featured three other regionally-ranked teams and 127 total individuals.
Davidson covered the 8-kilometer course in a winning time of 25:36, outdistancing runner-up Drew Klein of Simpson by seven seconds. The third-place finisher was a full 20 second behind Davidson.
Coach Jerry Frawley’s Rams placed fourth in team scoring with 115 points, only two behind third-place and No. 6 regionally-ranked Simpson. No. 5 nationally-rated Wartburg edged No. 7 regionally-ranked Central for the team title, 39-41.
Sophomore Gabe Soda also turned in a strong effort for the Rams, finishing 21st overall with a mark of 26:43. The Rams landed two more in the top 40 with freshman Thomas Coble in 37th (27:18) and sophomore Caleb Schopen 39th (27:20).
Junior Noah Lutzke brought in Cornell’s fifth score, taking 47th in 27:42. Brodie Callahan (53rd, 27:55), Tyler Bilskie (69th, 29:00), Craig Morris (76th, 29:20), Emery Bird (84th, 29:24) and Gabe Hunt (90th, 30:00) rounded out Cornell’s top 10 performances.
Women’s XCSophomore Katie Lammers paced a young Cornell lineup Saturday at the 60th running of the Les Duke Cross Country Invitational at Grinnell College Golf Course.
Lammers was Cornell’s top scorer for the second consecutive meet, finishing 36th in a strong field of 93 competitors. She completed the 6-kilometer course in 25:38, establishing a new personal record at that distance.
Freshman Alyza Koppes was the second Ram to finish, taking 45th in 26:12. Sophomore Elinor Ascher-Handlin placed 68th in 28:06. She was followed by Annika Sutter (81st, 29:56) and freshman Grace Parises (89th, 31:35).
The Rams scored 199 points for seventh place in the team race, which featured three regionally-ranked teams.
Central won the team title with 47 points and crowned Caroline McMartin as the individual champion in 22:53.
Coming up – The Rams resume competition Oct. 1 at Wartburg’s Dan Huston Invitational in Waverly.