Cornell’s No. 10 regionally-ranked men’s cross country team ran up against a stacked field Saturday, placing six runners inside the top 100 at Wartburg’s Dan Huston Invitational.
Sophomore Isaac vanWestrienen turned in another fine effort as the Rams’ front runner for the third consecutive meet. He finished 11th out of 322 total competitors on Max Cross Country Course.
VanWestrienen clocked a season-best 8K time of 25:28. He was only 10 seconds outside of the top six in a deep field that featured seven teams rated in the Midwest Region.
Coach Jerry Frawley’s squad placed seventh out of 21 teams with 213 points. The Rams beat No. 9 regionally-ranked Luther by 68 points.
Junior Gabe Soda was the second Ram to cross the line, taking 41st in 26:46. Cornell’s final three scores came from Fisher Isaacson in 63rd (27:21), Gabe Hunt in 66th (27:24) and Brodie Callahan in 72nd (27:33).
Caleb Schopen was 96th (27:55), Thomas Coble 124th (28:19) and Noah Lutzke 127th (28:25) to round out Cornell’s top eight runners.
Wartburg, ranked No. 2 in the region and No. 7 nationally, claimed the team title with 29 points. Other regionally-ranked teams included No. 6 Central in second (86 points), No. 3 Loras third (96), No. 7 Simpson fourth (121), No. 8 Grinnell fifth (124) and No. 9 Luther 10th (281).
Wartburg’s Christopher Collet won overall medalist honors in 24:46.
Women’s XCAlyza Koppes clocked the quickest 6K time of her young career Saturday against stiff competition to head Cornell’s women’s cross country team at Wartburg’s Dan Huston Invitational.
Koppes turned in a swift time of 24:25 and finished 31st out of 200 runners on Max Cross Country Course. The Cornell sophomore shaved 92 seconds off her mark from last year on the same course.
Koppes held her own against a strong field that included five teams ranked in the Midwest Region. The Rams scored 417 points and took 14th out of 18 teams.
Cornell’s young squad had sophomore Elinor Ascher-Handlin come in with the team’s second score, placing 147th in 28:01. First-year Sophie Stumbo ran 28:26 for 160th. Cari Pickup finished 172nd (29:25), followed by first-year runners Murray Page (30:24) and Zoe Peesel (30:45) in 185th and 186th, respectively.
No. 2 nationally-ranked Wartburg captured the team crown with 31 points. No. 23 Central was runner-up with 57 points.
Lexi Brown of Wartburg won the individual race in 22:03.