Complete Results

ITHACA, N.Y. – It was a highly successful weekend for the Big Red at historic Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Saturday and Sunday as the Cornell women won the Outdoor Heptagonal Championships for the first time since 2010 and for the ninth time in the past 11 years.

The quality of the Cornell women's team was remarkable, as the team won five events, had four second-place showings, produced eight new additions to the meet all-time top 10 lists, had 24 different women score, produced 29 ECAC-qualifying performances and had two new school records and 13 changes to the school all-time top 10 lists while scoring in 20 of 23 events.

The Cornell women were terrific throughout the weekend, staking a one-point lead on day one and increasing their lead on Sunday to ultimately finish with 158 points, 24 ahead of second-place Princeton and 44 ahead of third-place Brown.

Cornell got off to a great start on Saturday, scoring in every event. Senior Erin Rossi got the ball rolling in the very first event, upsetting pre-meet form charts with a huge second-place effort, breaking the school record on her sixth and final throw to reach 179' 9”. Cornell also picked up points in the long jump as sophomore Anjelique Parnell was fifth at 18' 7 1/4” while classmate Dominique Corley made the final to get eighth at 17' 6 1/2”. In the pole vault, freshman Lindsey Enders tied for third at 12' 1/2”.

In Saturday's other throwing event, the Big Red took half the scoring places as junior Victoria Imbesi (third, 146' 4”, a seasonal best), freshman Felicia Reid (fifth, 134' 10”) and sophomore Brittany Dombrowski (sixth, 130' 11”) tallied 9 points combined.

The momentum for Sunday was clearly established in the final individual event of the day, as the 10K duo of junior Katie Kellner and sophomore Devin McMahon came up huge, placing first and third to score 16 points and catapult Cornell into the overall lead. Kellner separated herself from the other runners 200 meters into the race, blitzing the field with a 5:14 opening mile, before cruising to a nearly 200-meter victory in 34:07.85 -- the fourth-best time in meet history -- and her first career Heps title after placing second last year. McMahon ran a patient and smart race, pulling away from the main chase pack after three miles to place third in a very fine 34:53.50, as she ran her final 5K in an impressive 17:14.

With 39 points on Saturday, the Big Red scored very well, but it was the 11 qualifiers the team advanced through to Sunday's final that truly put the Big Red in great position. Qualifiers were freshman Katie Woodford (12.23) and senior co-captain Melissa Hewitt (12.23) in the 100, sophomore Ebolutalese Airewele (24.48), Katie Woodford (24.75) and freshman Emily Woodford (25.21) in the 200, freshman Zena Kolliesuah (55.15, No. 5 all-time) in the 400, senior Janel Parker (4:32.76, closing in 65 her last lap) and sophomore Emily Shearer (4:23.33, No. 8 all-time) in the 1500, senior Taylor Baird (14.31) in the 100 hurdles, senior co-captain Molly Glantz (58.94, No. 2 all-time and fifth best in meet history) and sophomore Ryan Woolley (60.90) in the 400 hurdles.

Sunday's Day Two picked up right were Saturday's Day One ended as Kellner moved immediately to the front of the 5K, which was the very first event on the track, and hammered the field with a 5:09 first mile. With indoor champion Heidi Caldwell of Brown and Melissa Chapman of Yale close on her heels, Kellner relentlessly pushed the pace and even in the lead managed a remarkable 72-second final lap in which she was passed by Caldwell a mere 60 meters from the finish. Kellner ended up with a memorable and gritty second-place finish, setting an outdoor personal best of 16:19.67, eighth-best in meet history and No. 4 all-time at Cornell, just 15 hours after her remarkable 10K win. Sophomore Devin McMahon doubled back very well to place fifth in her second-best career time, running 16:41.34 as she did a good job once again of moving up the field in the latter half of the race.

Meanwhile, news came in that junior Victoria Imbesi had followed up her third place javelin effort on Saturday with an outstanding effort in the shot put, as she placed first in a new school record of 49' 3 3/4”.

Points continued to roll in on the track: in the 4x100, the quartet of Parnell, Kolliesuah, Airewele and Katie Woodford ran the eighth-best time in school history, crossing the line in a seasonal-best 46.20 for second.

Fourteen more big points came in the very next event as the steeplechase duo of sophomore Rachel Sorna and junior Genna Hartung ran two of the best times in meet history. Sorna enjoyed a nine-second personal best to move to No. 2 all-time at Cornell (and third-best in meet history) with a great second-place showing, and Hartung ran her second-best career time and sixth-best in meet history with a third-place 10:20.44.

Next up in the 1500, Shearer again closed very well to place a terrific third in 4:24.03, running a savvy race, and Parker also closed well to get fifth in 4:24.80. Senior Taylor Baird had a fine race to get fourth in a good 100 hurdles field, running 14.27, and Kolliesuah matched that fourth-place effort with a 55.18 finish in the 400. Katie Woodford placed sixth in the 100 at 12.27 and Hewitt closed out her amazing Cornell career with an eighth-place finish of 12.63 in the 100. Meanwhile, in the triple jump, senior Kristin Brandt had a great performance to finish a career-best third, reaching 39' 10 3/4”.

The final four individual events pushed the Big Red over the top. In the 400 hurdles, senior co-captain Molly Glantz ran a gutsy final 100 meters to catch a fast-starting Paige Madison of Penn to claim her first career Heps title, running 59.08, the 10th-best performance in meet history. And sophomore Ryan Woolley added four more critical points with a fourth-place run of 60.50, No. 4 all-time at Cornell.

Cornell received a huge boost in the high jump, as junior Ailish Hanly continued her outstanding season to win her first career Heps title, clearing 5' 9 /14”, No. 2 all-time at Cornell and over two inches better than last year.

With that surge of momentum, Cornell also picked up 10 points in the 200 as Airewele was third in 24.29 (No. 4 all-time) and Katie Woodford closed hard to get fourth in 24.39 while twin sister Emily just missed scoring in seventh at 25.18.

Cornell officially "clinched" the meet in the final individual event as Shearer doubled back with a great finish in the 3K, placing fourth (and passing Princeton's top entrant in the event in the last 100 meters) to run 9:35.55 and put the meet out of reach heading into the relays.

But Cornell was not done as it closed out the meet with two great relay efforts. The 4x800 of freshman Tess Berghoff (2:12.0), freshman Jade Williams (2:10.3), Glantz (2:08.6) and Parker (2:10.0) ran 8:41.12 to place third and move to No. 3 all-time at Cornell and produce the fourth-best time in meet history. And the 4x400 closed out the meet in style as the quartet of junior Libby O'Brien (56.1), senior Kelsey Reimnitz (55.6), Kolliesuah (54.2) and Airewele (53.6) ran 3:36.61, fifth-best in meet history and seventh-best in school history.

Many others contributed to the Cornell cause: O'Brien (11th, 56.78 in the 400), Berghoff (11th, 2:11.07), junior Liz Reamer (12th 2:11.23) and Williams (13th, 2:11.75) in the 800, junior Dale Kinney in the 1500 (17th, 4:47.74) and 3000 (12th, 9:52.50), Sorna (14th, 9:56.10) and Hartung (15th, 9:59.69) in the 3000, freshman Mina Amick-Alexis (9th, 14.70) in the 100 hurdles, Reimnitz (12th, 64.63) in the 400 hurdles, juniors Lindsey Patterson and Claire Dishong (seventh, 11' 7 3/4”) and senior Sam Brady (11th, 11' 7 3/4”) in the pole vault, junior Savannah Johnson (seventh, 38' 3 1/2”) in the triple jump to just miss scoring, Corley in the high jump, Dishong (eighth, 133-11) in the discus and freshman Megan DeFord (ninth, 41' 1 1/2”) in the shot put and (12th, 121' 9”) in the discus.

Cornell now heads to the ECAC/IC4A Championships, to be held again this year at Princeton from Friday through Sunday. After that, Cornell will send those that have qualified to the First Round of the NCAAs in Jacksonville, Fla., from May 24-26 and the NCAA Final Round will be in Des Moines, Iowa, from June 6-9.