Men's 4x800, Jacobs victorious at Hilltop

Cornell won the men's 4x800 relay and senior Ben Jacobs notched a victory in the 3000-meter run at the non-scored Hilltop Invitational, held Friday and Saturday in the Small Multi-Sport Center Arena.

Jacobs captured the 3000 title in a personal-best time of 8 minutes, 53.82 seconds, the second-best mark in the Iowa Conference this season. He left his closest challengers in the 19-man field - two runners from North Iowa Area Community College - five seconds behind. Minutes earlier, junior Leslie Smebak nearly pulled out a win in the women's 3000. She finished second in 11:00.30, less than three seconds off the pace by Grinnell's Hannah Colter.

"I was impressed with the performances of Ben and Leslie in the 3Ks. Both ran tough, gutty races," Cornell head coach Lonnie Speidel said. "I was pleased with our performances as a whole. We talked about improving from two weeks ago and moving forward as a team as we look toward the conference championships (Feb. 24-25 at Cornell). I think for the most part we did that."

The Cornell men cruised to an eight-second win over Mount Mercy in the 4x800. The team of Chris Stadler, Jake Butts, David Kuhlmann and senior anchor Adam Rooyakkers crossed the line in 8:18.91, the top mark in the IIAC this year.

Kuhlmann added a fourth-place finish in the mile (4:37.19), a competitive race in which the top four finishers were separated by 1.43 seconds. Junior teammate Jordan Kemme took sixth in 4:40.64.

Jacobs had company in the 3000, with Chase Nowak coming in fourth (9:09.54) and freshman Lawrence Dennis sixth (9:21.91). Junior sprinter Andrew Harter ran 52.39 in the 400 to take fifth.

Coach Speidel also cited freshman Brennen Stine, who placed eighth in the 200 (23.66) and ran a quick leg on the team's seventh-place 4x400 relay.

Sophomore Anthony Bridges led the Rams in Friday's field events. He cleared 13-11.25 in the pole vault to place third. Freshman Dillon Ryel was fifth with a mark of 12-05.50. Senior Marshall Kraker established a personal-best in the shot put, placing sixth with a heave of 44-00.50. He also took seventh in the weight throw (41-00.50).

Freshman Hannah Garvey anchored the women's 4x400 relay to a fifth-place showing in 4:28.82. The unit included Christal Harris, Kaci Jazo and Melissa Kraker. In the mile, Laura Ettlin placed eighth in 5:39.23.

The Cornell women posted several top-eight finishes in the field events. Harris and Kraker tied for fifth in the high jump (4-09.75), while freshman Tynisha Person took fifth in the long jump with a leap of 15-04.25.

Angela Dugan (42-03.50) and Madison Acree (41-03) placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the weight throw. Acree added a sixth-place finish in the shot put (35-01.25). Amanda Houts cleared 8-00.50 for sixth place in the pole vault.

Coming up - The Rams travel to Grinnell Saturday, Feb. 11 to compete in a talented field at the Darren Young Invitational.

"This weekend we will be at Grinnell, host of the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships," Speidel said. "It will be a very high-powered meet with four nationally-ranked men's teams in the top 12, and three women's teams ranked in the top 18. We look forward to competing at their fine facility and facing some of the nation's best teams."