BOSTON, Mass. - The Cornell men's track and field team won its first IC4A track championship since 1930 on Sunday, March 4, at Boston University, in the process becoming the first Ivy League team in 35 years to claim the coveted trophy. Not to be denied after a second-place finish at last week's Heps, the Big Red out-pointed Seton Hall by five points and Georgetown by eight in claiming three event wins and two runner-up showings and scoring 50 points overall. The IC4A is comprised of over 70 Division I Eastern colleges and 52 schools scored at this year's championships.

Cornell closed out their IC4A championship (they were second indoors in 2006) with thrilling relay finishes by the 4X800 (first for the third straight year indoors) and 4X400 (second). But they were put in great position thanks to the outstanding individual efforts of high jumpers David Pell and Garrett Huyler and triple jumper Rayon Taylor. As with the Heps, Pell and Huyler came through in the clutch as both cleared 6-11 1/2. This time, senior Pell took the IC4A title with sophomore Huyler in second. Taylor claimed the sixth best triple jump in the history of the Ivy League, setting a PR 52-1 1/4 (also an NCAA provisional mark) to place first after getting third last year. Due also to sophomore Marcel van Eeden's 8th place (48.20; he ran 47.94, #2 all-time at Cornell, in the prelims!) in the 400 and junior Saidu Ezike's 6th place (7.44) run in the 55 hurdles, the Big Red entered the final two relays with 32 points to set the stage for a thrilling finish.   

The men's 4X800 won its fifth consecutive IC4A 4X800 title (three straight years indoors as well as the past two years outdoors) with a thrilling come from behind victory. Senior Brian Mongeon, sophomore Andy Miller and junior Mike Smayda ran very well to give their anchor, junior Jimmy Wyner, a chance to win. Running in a tight race with Penn and Georgetown, Wyner ran 55.7 in his final 400 en route to a 1:52.5 800 split as the team ran 7:37.28 to triumph by half a second. The Big Red made the final thanks to sophomore Eric Ryan, junior Ian Ward, senior Will Seidel and Miller running 7:39.28 on Saturday.

Leading eventual team runner-up Seton Hall by seven points entering the meet's final event, the Big Red merely needed to finish respectably in their heat of the 4X400 finals to insure a team victory but they finished the meet in style, running the #2 time in the history of the Ivy League (3:11.13) to place a close second to a very good Seton Hall team. Van Eeden led off in 47.7, freshman Michael Kippins split 47.9, senior Kolby Hoover ran 48.2 and junior Adam Seabrook closed in a fantastic 47.2. The squad made the finals with a preliminary round 3:12.00 thanks to 47.8 from Van Eeden, 48.3 by Kippins, 48.4 from Hoover nad 47.5 from Seabrook.

The men's team title was Cornell's first outright IC4A indoor track championship since 1922 as the 1930 squad tied for first. And the Big Red became the first Heps team since Penn in 1972 to win the prestigious championship.

Junior Greg Gomes (Somerset, N.J.) continued his winning ways for Seton Hall, placing first in the 500-meter with a time of 1:01.40, missing his own facility record by one hundredth of a second.

In the 800-meter event, sophomores Rob Novak (Bordentown, N.J) and James Gurr (Sydney, Australia) finished second and third, respectively for the Pirates. Novak clocked in at 1:50.75, and Gurr finished in 1:50.91.  Sophomore Jemel Williams (Bronx, N.Y.) was the runner-up in the 400-meter (47.69), and Jestin McKenzie (Marlboro, Md.) earned sixth place honors in the 1,000-meter (2:28.07).  Seton Hall's 4x400 team of Gurr, McKenzie, Williams and Gomes ran their race in 3:10.72 to earn the victory.
 
Top Ten Team Standings
1) Cornell University               50       
2) Seton Hall University          45   
3) Georgetown University        42       
4) University at Albany           37   
5) US Military Academy          36       
6) Syracuse University            35   
6) College Of William & Mary  35       
8) Liberty University                30.50
9) Manhattan College               29      
10) Bucknell University           27  

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