DES MOINES – The blue oval brought out the best in Cornell's track & field competitors during a memorable three days at the Drake Relays inside Drake Stadium.
Kicked off with a record-setting run by
Isaac vanWestrienen in Thursday's men's 1500, the Rams went on to break three more school records in relay events Friday and Saturday.
Cornell's men established a new program bench mark in the 4x200 Friday night. The quartet of
Dalles Hernandez,
Chase Staker,
Jensen Meeker and
Hadley Beaty crossed in 1:28.41, topping previous school record of 1:28.95 set way back in 1986.
Staker brought the Rams home with a blistering 21.04 split on the anchor leg. Cornell placed 12th out of 26 finishers in the University/College Division. Southern Illinois posted a winning time of 1:25.49.
Saturday morning, Cornell shattered school records in both men's and women's distance medley relays.
Gabe Soda, Meeker,
Gabe Hunt and anchor vanWestrienen became the first Cornellians ever to break 10 minutes in the men's event, crossing in 9:59.50 for sixth place out of 17 finishers.
The Rams obliterated the previous school standard by 14 seconds, set in 2011. VanWestrienen improved the team's position by two places during a 4:09.35 anchor split in the 1600. Augustana (S.D.) won the race in 9:49.64.
Not to be outdone, Cornell's women shaved 12 seconds off the 2004 program record in the distance medley with the quartet of
Lidia Dahlman,
Willow Ziegler,
Ava Claussen-Tubbs and anchor
Alyza Koppes.
The Rams posted a swift time of 12:27.31 for fifth place out of eight teams. Wartburg was the winner in 11:58.44.
Claussen-Tubbs anchored the women's sprint medley on Friday to a seventh-place finish in 4:12.08, less than two seconds shy of the school record. The relay included
Hailey Carolan,
Alexa Hugart and Ziegler. Minnesota State won in 4:00.86.
The men's 4x100 of
Niko Platre,
Hadley Beaty, Meeker and anchor
Jaxin McGuire posted a strong time of 42.48, only .23 seconds off the program mark set earlier this season. The group finished 20th in the event. UW-La Crosse clocked the fastest qualifying time (40.24).
In Saturday's women's high jump, Carolan cleared 5-3.25 and tied for 17th overall.
The Rams were also in action at the Kip Janvrin Open Thursday and Friday in Indianola.
Caleb Schopen turned in Cornell's highest finish, taking third out of 31 competitors in the men's 3000 steeplechase (9:35.14).
The Rams fielded six runners in the women's 5000, led by Dahlman's 17th-place showing in the 5000 (18:14.62). Koppes was 20th (18:22.35) out of 94 finishers.
Coming up – Cornell competes next Saturday, May 3, at the Fighting Scots Invitational in Monmouth, Ill.
