At Cornell’s only home meet this season, the men’s and women’s cross country teams raced against local teams — including Syracuse, Cortland, Buffalo and Ithaca College — in the 24th annual John Reif Memorial Run. The memorial run marked the last meet before the Red’s post season begins next week at Heptagonals. The race, as indicated by its title, is dedicated to John Reif ’86. Reif was a member of the Red cross country team throughout his collegiate years who was struck by a truck while training for a triathlon a year after his graduation.  

For some of the runners, last Saturday’s race was also their final for the 2010 cross country season; at Heptagonals, only 12 runners per a team will be permitted. Similarly, the field for NCAA Regionals will be capped as well.    

“The story behind the Reif is that it’s the last chance for some of the cross country guys to make the team that gets to go to Heps. So traditionally, the first Cornell guy in gets the last spot for the Heps squad,” said sophomore Nick Wade, who captured the last slot with a 9th place overall finish for the Red in 26:40 on the 5-mile course.  

Thus, both the men’s and women’s teams did not run their customary runners; none of the top seven runners throughout the last few meets ran for either team, including freshman Devin McMahon, sophomores Katie Kellner, Genna Hartung, Cara Costich and Kelsey Karys, as well as seniors Maura Carroll and Kristin Sellers, on the women’s side. On the men’s side, seniors Nate Edelman, Adrien Dannemiller, Matt Da Silva, sophomores Brett Kelly and Matt McCullough as well as freshmen Gabe Heck and David Forward among others were conspicuously absent.  

However, the race was not bereft of personal bests or fast times as senior Kim Standridge set the Cornell women’s course record with an 18:40 mark for the 5K course. Standridge was running in her first meet in two years. Junior Meghan Brown finished next for the Red, followed closely by sophomore Neena Schnepff who completed the course in 19:18, a one-minute improvement from her previous time. Other underclassmen turned in top 10 finishes as well, including sophomore Suzana Markolovic as well as freshman Lauren Lloyd.  

On the men’s side, as noted, sophomore Nick Wade finished 9th overall and first for the Red; however, it was not without a fight as freshman Max Groves stayed with Wade until the 4.5 mile mark. Groves ultimately finished in 26:51, good for 13th place. Sophomores David Frankel and Dan Wallace took 18th and 19th place,s respectively, with times of 27:30 and 27:44.  

Despite a relatively early end to the season for some of Cornell’s runners, the underclassmen should not be disheartened, according to Wade.

 “A lot of the freshman this year made a huge significant effort and if they don’t go necessarily go on to be on the Regional team I think they should be happy with their performances as a whole,” said Wade.