BRONX, N.Y. — The Cornell men's cross country team will be looking for another strong performance at Ivy League Heptagonals on Friday at Van Cortlandt Park after finishing second at the conference championship meet last season.
 
The Ivy League is perennially a competitive cross country conference. All eight teams are regionally ranked heading into Heps, with Penn and Princeton coming in at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, in the Mid-Atlantic. Columbia has the No. 3 spot in the Northeast with Dartmouth, Cornell, Yale, Harvard and Brown taking No. 5-No. 9.
 
Currently, Columbia and Penn are also nationally ranked in the most recent USTFCCCA poll, coming in at No. 17 and No. 29, respectively. The host Lions finished in the top three of their first three meets and posted an impressive 10^th place finish at the Wisconsin Invitational, one of the most competitive meets in the country. The Big Red, however, took first in the season-opening Brother Jasper Invitational, also held at Van Cortlandt Park, where Columbia finished second. The Quakers placed first at the Princeton Invitational, beating out nationally ranked Villanova and a number of regionally ranked squads.
 
In addition, Princeton cracked the rankings for a week, earning the No. 27 spot on Oct. 6 after finishing second at the Princeton Interregional Meet ahead of three ranked teams. Dartmouth also received votes in the poll on more than one occasion behind a second-place finish at the Boston College Invite and a fourth-place finish at the New England Championship.
 
At the Battle in Beantown, Harvard finished two spots behind the Big Red coming in sixth. Brown then finished two spots behind the Crimson in eighth. At Pre-Nationals, Yale placed 19^th, behind Cornell in 14^th.
 
Columbia's finish at the Wisconsin Invitational was the highest of the Ancient Eight teams, with the next Ivy team, Dartmouth, 15 spots behind in 25^th. Princeton placed 31^st, with Harvard right behind in 32^nd.
 
"We really look forward to this great competitive opportunity," said coach Zeb Lang. "Several teams have a chance to win this year and we are excited to be in the mix."
 
Senior Ben Rainero has been the Big Red's top runner this season, leading the team at every meet he has competed in this regular season. Sophomore Dominic DeLuca and junior David Taylor have also had strong campaigns and will be among the group of Cornell runners traveling to Van Cortlandt Park. Last season, DeLuca was the Big Red's top finisher at Heps, placing fourth and earning First Team All-Ivy honors.
 
"We are going into the meet at full strength and we look forward to the dogfight," said Lang.