ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cornell women's track and field team is ready to improve even more from last year's results at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships. Continue reading for more information about who is coming back and what can be expected for the 2019-20 season.
 

About the Big Red

• The Big Red women's track and field team finished the 2018-19 indoor season at the ECAC Championships. With 18 points, the women finished 15th, out of the 45 teams that earned points at the postseason race.
• Of the 11 individuals and two relay teams that competed at the ECACs, seven individuals and three-quarters of the relay teams will be returning. Junior Elle Orie and senior Claire Kao, along with junior Kaitlyn Bonnet and sophomore Allyson Gaedje from the 4x800 relay, return with All-ECAC performances under their belt. Also returning from the Indoor ECAC team are juniors Corinne Kennedy and Melissa Zammitti and seniors Taylor Knibb, Audrey Huelskamp and Zenab Ojibe along with junior Skye Stewart and sophomore Lucy Hurt from the distance medley relay team. 
• The outdoor team sent two individuals all the way to the NCAA Championships. After starting the postseason run at Ivy Heps, Cornell closed the ECAC Championships with a third-place team finish. The Big Red scored 61 points to finish in the top three among 45 teams. 
• Of the 13 individuals, and two relay teams, that competed at the ECACs, eight individuals and all but one of the relay runners will be returning for the 2019-20 season. Juniors Elle Orie and Kellian Kelly, senior Audrey Huelskamp and sophomore Leone Farquharson, along with the 4x100 relay team (seniors Jinjer Pearce and Brittany Stenekes and sophomore Brooke Overholt) and the 4x800 relay team (senior Victoria Casarrubias, sophomore Allyson Gaedje and junior Kaitlyn Bonnet), return with Outdoor All-ECAC performances. Also returning are sophomores Natalie Morris and Maria Siciliano and senior Zenab Ojibe.
• Six individuals competed at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds. Of those, three will return for another year. 
• At the finale of the 2018-19 season, Briar Brumley '19 and sophomore Beatrice Juskeviciute earned All-America Honorable Mention after their performances at the NCAA Championship.

 

What Will Fans See During the 2019-20 Season

• Last year one-third of the competitors at Outdoor Heps were seniors. That one third included two-thirds of the point scorers. The team "appreciate[s] everything that the class of 2019 did for the team, and the impressive way in which they represented the program," but instead of focusing on the loss, head coach Mike Henderson, and the team, is "keeping [their] focus on being the best at every practice. If [they] continue to do that and compete up to [their] abilities, [Henderson has] no doubt that our women's team will be successful during both the indoor and outdoor season."
• A more positive note from last year came from Beatrice Juskeviciute, Elle Orie, Brooke Overholt and Marguerite Lorenzo return to the team after competing on the national level. The coaches expect "the experience and leadership of those four to help shape the team this year." In addition to last year's national experience, the cross country team made the NCAA Championships in the fall, and "they have been instrumental in helping the others understand that anything is possible if you focus on working hard for each other and putting your best self out there on the day of competition." Henderson adds, "that combination of experiences has all of us coaches excited about what this team can achieve this year."
• In his first year as head coach of the women's track and field team, Henderson recognizes the team "has long been known for its competitive spirit and passion," and going forward the team's goals are to "work hard day in and day out to the best [they] can be, and to represent this incredible institution and storied program to the best of [their] abilities."
• So who should fans be looking for throughout the season? According to Henderson, "the entire group has continued to build and progress. Every athlete on this team has been working hard to make themselves better." Each and every athlete on the team has a chance to shine. 

 

Big Red Captains

• The Big Red women's track and field captains have been announced. Seniors Reagan Bachman, Nikolia Kanaris, Zenab Ojibe, Jinjer Pearce and Brittany Stenekes will serve as the 2019-20 captains. Each of them has their specialties but will serve as a team.
• A mid-distance runner, Reagan Bachman, can be found competing in the 400m-800m range. Her most recent finish was a seventh- place cross at the 2019 Indoor Heps in the 800. Her top-ten finish was a big improvement on her 2018 Indoor Heps finish in the 800, a 16th-place finish.
• As a constant in shot put, Nikolia Kanaris has earned 42 top ten finishes in her collegiate career in shot put. This includes an 8th-place finish at the 2019 Outdoor Ivy Heps Championships and a 7th-place finish at the 2019 Indoor Ivy Heps Championships. 
• Zenab Ojibe has been a constant for the Big Red in the triple jump and long jump. Usually competing in the triple jump, Ojibe has been in the top ten 30 times. Her triple jump personal record surpassed 12 meters on April 23, 2019 at the CNY College Challenge.
• Jinjer Pearce is a sprints-mid-distance runner for the Big Red. She consistently competes as a part of the 4x400 and 4x100 relay teams for indoor and outdoor track. On Dec. 1, 2018, Pearce broke eight seconds in her 60m dash and during the 2019 Outdoor Heps competitions she beat her previous personal record in her main event, the 400m, with a 54.53 run in the preliminary round.
• Though she also competes in sprints, Brittany Stenekes can usually be found jumping over hurdles at Cornell track and field meets. Consistently in the top ten of each of her events, she most recently closed her junior season with a 9th-place finish in the 100m hurdles at the ECAC Championships. 

 

About Head Coach Mike Henderson

• After being an assistant coach for men's cross country/track and field for two years at Cornell, Mike Henderson was named the Alan B. '53 and Elizabeth Heekin Harris Head Coach of Women's Track & Field/Men's and Women's Cross Country in August of 2019.
• During those two years with the Big Red's men's middle- and long-distance runners, Henderson has coached one NCAA cross country championship qualifier, 13 Ivy League and six IC4A point scorers. 
• Henderson's Ivy and IC4A point scorers include four top-three finishes and one championship performance.
• He has also overseen four Big Red all-time top 10 performances and has had three athletes break Cornell freshman records.
• In his first year as head coach of Cornell cross country, the women's team qualified for the NCAA Championship, eventually finishing 29th with junior Elle Orie crossing the finish line in the top 100.

 

Post-Season Success

• Following the conclusion of the indoor Ivy Heps Championships, Cornell placed four individuals and one relay team on the All-Ivy Teams. Beatrice Juskeviciute was named First Team after her pentathlon win while Kellian Kelly, Eve Glasergreen and Monique Anderson came home with Second Team honors. The Second Team All-Ivy relay team was the 4x400m relay consisting of Elise Burdette, Martha Sam, Brooke Overholt and Jinjer Pearce.
• During the outdoor postseason, the women finished with four All-Ivy selections. After winning the heptathlon, Juskeviciute earned her second first-team honor in just as many competitions. Briar Brumley was the second first-team honoree after crossing first in the steeplechase. Eve Glasergreen and Marguerite Lorenzo finished out the championship meet with Second Team All-Ivy selections.
• The indoor season saw four individuals with All-ECAC performances while outdoor saw six. Indoor had one relay and outdoor had two. Annie Taylor, Briar Brumley, Elle Orie and Claire Kao closed out the indoor season with the individual honors while Kaitlyn Bonnet, Skye Stewart, Marissa Holl and Audrey Huelskamp were in the 4x800 relay honored in the indoor season. Kellian Kelly, Taylor, Huelskamp, Brumley, Orie, and Leone Farquharson earned the individual honors for the outdoor season. Jinjer Pearce, Kelly, Brittany Stenekes and Brooke Overholt were in the 4x100 relay honored and Victoria Casarrubias, Allyson Gaedje, Bonnet and Holl were in the 4x800 relay honored. 
• Six Cornellian track and field athletes closed out the year at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds while two went on to the NCAA Championships. Taylor, Lorenzo, Overholt, Orie and Glasergreen all finished with top 40 placements and Brumley automatically advanced to the championship with an 8th place finish in the steeplechase.
• Sophomore Beatrice Juskeviciute closed out her freshman campaign with a 19th place finish in the heptathlon at the NCAA Championship, earning her first Honorable Mention All-America honors. Then senior, Briar Brumley, followed her with an 18th place finish in the steeplechase, closing out the 2018-19 season with a second All-America Honorable Mention.

 

Smart Cookies

• In addition to athletics success, the team achieved a 3.34 GPA to earn the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team Award. 2018-19 marks the 13th straight time the women's team has earned this award.
• At the conclusion of both the indoor and outdoor seasons, juniors Elle Orie and Marguerite Lorenzo, along with Briar Brumley, Eve Glasergreen, Annie Taylor and Christina Welzer from the class of 2019, were named USTFCCCA All-Academic.
• Senior Taylor Knibb and Glasergreen earned Google Cloud Academic All-District 1 Women's Track and Field/Cross Country First Team honors.
• As graduating seniors, Eve Glasergreen was named to the Winter Academic All-Ivy team while Briar Brumley was on the Spring Academic All-Ivy team.

 

Letter Winners

• A track and field athlete earns a letter if they place or score at Indoor/Outdoor Heps and/or IC4As. 
• 18 of the 27 that qualified for letters in the 2018-19 season will be returning for another year of Cornell track and field. This includes: sophomores Monique Anderson, Leone Farquharson, Allyson Gaedje, Tara Higgins, Beatrice Juskeviciute and Brooke Overholt, juniors Kaitlyn Bonnet, Kellian Kelly, Marguerite Lorenzo, Elle Orie, Skye Stewart and Melissa Zammitti, seniors Victoria Casarrubias, Audrey Huelskamp, Claire Kao, Taylor Knibb, Jinjer Pearce and Brittany Stenekes.

 

Schedule

Dec. 7             Greg Page Relays
Jan. 11            Southern Tier Collegiate Open
Jan. 18            Penn 8-Team Select
Jan. 24-25       Upstate Challenge
Feb. 1              Kane Invitational
Feb. 8              Sykes & Sabock Challenge
Feb. 14-15       Boston U. Valentine Invite
Feb. 16            Sunday Invitational
Feb. 22            Marc Deneault Invitational
Feb. 29-Mar. 1 Indoor Ivy League Heptagonal Championships
Mar. 13-14       NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships (participation TBA)
Mar. 21            William and Mary's Dan Stimson Memorial Meet
Mar. 27            UCLA Distance Carnival
Mar. 28            Riverside Invitational
Apr. 4              Titan Team Challenge
Apr. 10-11       Bucknell Invitational
Apr. 17-18       Larry Ellis Invitational
Apr. 17-18       War Eagle Invite
Apr. 23-25       Penn Relays
Apr. 26            Kane Invitational
May 3              Cornell Invitational
May 9-10         Outdoor Ivy League Heptagonal Championships
May 28-30       NCAA First Round (participation TBA)
June 10-13      NCAA Final Round (participation TBA)