GRINNELL – It was another record-setting weekend for coach
Jerry Monner's Cornell track & field teams, who had athletes spread out across three competitions over two days.
Friday night at the UW-Platteville Invitational, junior
Isaac vanWestrienen blew away the program standard in the men's 5000-meter run with a time of 14:05.67, which is fourth-fastest nationally in NCAA Division III this outdoor season.
VanWestrienen shattered Mason Wicker's 2018 school record by 19 seconds. He placed fourth out of 274 competitors and was second among Division III finishers to UW-Whitewater's Christian Patzka (14:02.10). University of Wisconsin's Nick Gilles won the race in 13:58.39.
Cornell's
Gabe Soda was 99th in 14:55.17. While in the women's 5000,
Alyza Koppes ran 17:51.34 for 40th out of 134 finishers.
On Saturday, the men's 4x100 relay took down a long-lasting program record at Grinnell's Dick Young Classic. The quartet of
Niko Platre,
Hadley Beaty,
Jensen Meeker and anchor
Jaxin McGuire crossed in 42.25 for a runner-up finish. They nipped the school record of 42.31, set back in 1986.
Cornell's women picked up titles from
Willow Ziegler in the 400 (1:01.01) and
Hailey Carolan in both the 100 hurdles (15.77) and high jump (5-2.50). Carolan also placed second in the 400 (1:02.31) and anchored in the runner-up 4x400 relay (4:18.05) of Ziegler,
Olivia Cotton and
Alexa Hugart.
Sia Bear placed third in the long jump (14-8).
Gabe Hunt ran second in the 800 (1:58.38).
Wallace Schmotzer placed second in the 400 hurdles (59.84) and third in the triple jump (40-11.75). Beaty was third out of 36 in the 100 (10.81).
The Rams also competed at Friday's Mount Mercy Distance Carnival, highlighted by a 1-3 finish from
Zoe Peesel (41:09.97) and
Milar Little (41:18.85) in the women's 10000.
Carley Seeley was fifth in the 5000 (19:02.85).
In the men's 1500, Hunt took fourth in 4:07.14.
Isaac Morris was sixth in the 5000 (16:04.92).
Coming up – Cornell competes at Mount Mercy's DeBacker Invitational next Saturday, April 19 in Cedar Rapids.
