ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cornell track and field teams head into the championship portion of the indoor season with great momentum.  Hosting 15 other schools at the Marc Deneault Memorial Invitational on Saturday in Barton Hall, the Big Red men and women tallied 16 combined Eastern qualifiers, boasted a pair of school records and produced 11 event wins.  
 
The Deneault family was on hand once again to recognize the meet's Most Valuable Performers on the track and in the field at the end of the meet.  In the field, Cornell sophomore Grant Sisserson earned Male MVP honors after setting a school and Ivy League record in the pole vault (17' 11 1/4") and Big Red senior Eve Bishop earned Female MVP honors in setting a new school record, while moving to third all-time in League history, with a winning pole vault clearance of 13' 1 1/2".  The track MVPs were Syracuse junior Shaina Harrison, who won the women's 60 in an outstanding 7.39 and Syracuse senior Donald Pollitt, who won the 60 hurdles in 7.84, one of the top marks in the NCAA this season.
 
The Cornell men accounted for nine IC4A qualifiers and six event wins.  Sisserson was terrific in winning the vault in a new Ivy League record of 17' 11 1/4", which is currently tied for 11th best in the NCAA this year.  Also vaulting extremely well was senior Keith Rayburn who cleared 16' 8 3/4" for second, easily surpassing the IC4A qualification mark.  
 
There were a pair of IC4A qualifiers in the throws:  senior co-captain Stephen Mozia won the shot put at 61' 4 1/4" and junior Bryan Rhodes took second in the weight at 67' 1/2".  Also performing extremely well was junior Ryan Hynes, who leapt a personal best 23' 8" (an IC4A qualifier) to place second in the long jump.
 
On the track, the Big Red men were impressive in the long sprints and middle distances.  Freshmen Stanford Cooper (50.23) and James Smith (50.99) went one-two in the 400. A quartet of sophomores swept the 500:  Will Gibson (1:07.17), Richard Zidani (1:07.23), Justin Love (1:07.30) and Wynn Curtis (1:07.30).  Junior Connor Herr won the 800 (1:56.15, just .01 from an IC4A qualifier) with freshman Tim Boston (1:56.55) in close pursuit in second.  
 
Meanwhile, freshman Chase Silverman (third, 2:28.79) and senior Phelan McCormack (fourth, 2:29.70) were IC4A qualifiers in the 1000.  Senior Tyler Eustance won the 5K in 14:54.76 and the Big Red got two more IC4A qualifying performances from Curtis, who ran 8.17 for third in the 60 hurdles, and freshman Dominic DeLuca, who was second in the mile in 4:16.25.  Also finishing in the top three were junior Ty Kawalec (third, 8:38.85) in the 3000 and sophomore John Enkler (third, 47-4 1/2) in the triple jump.
 
Complete results can be found here: Click Here.
 
Next up for the Big Red is the Indoor Heps, to be held at Harvard on February 28 and March 1st.  After the Heps, the team will return to Boston for the ECAC/IC4A Championships at Boston University on March 7-8.  
 
The initial schedule for the Indoor Heptagonals can be found here: Click Here.