Rams take four titles at Emory Classic

Cornell College's track and field teams kicked off the outdoor season by claiming four event titles in the Emory Classic Friday and Saturday at Emory University.

Senior thrower Madison Craw was a two-time winner for the Cornell women, who tied for sixth place with 38 points in the 17-team field. The Rams also had three placewinners in the women's 5000-meter run, led by sophomore champion Elise Mead.

Senior indoor all-American Kirkwood Donavin paced the Cornell men with a victory in the 800. The Rams finished seventh in the team race with 49 points.

Craw, an NCAA indoor participant in the shot put earlier this month, reached an outdoor provisional standard over the weekend with a winning shot put mark of 42 feet, 2.75 inches. She was the only competitor in the 16-woman field to break the 40-foot barrier.

Craw doubled up by taking the title in the hammer throw. She recorded a distance of 147-10, nearly three feet further than her closest challenger.

Mead was first among 31 seeded entrants in the 5000 with a time of 18 minutes, 20.84 seconds. She finished more than seven seconds ahead of runner-up Meredith Busman of Hope. Cornell senior Allie Jagielo took fourth (18:31.37) and freshman Laura Ettlin was seventh (18:55.26).

Senior Allison Newman finished third in the unseeded section of the 1500. She wound up 11th overall in 5:03.33.

Donavin captured a tightly-contested 800 win, crossing the finish line in 1:53.38 and nipping Anderson's Mathew Shaffer by .05 seconds in a large 49-man field. Donavin's time was less than one second shy of an NCAA provisional mark.

Senior Andrew Tobben was runner-up in the 5000 with a solid mark of 15:18.40. That was a 23-second improvement from Tobben's best 2011 indoor time in the event. Junior Ben Jacobs also scored distance points for the Rams, placing fifth in the 10000 (33:07.68).

The men received a third-place finish from freshman Anthony Bridges in the pole vault (13-1.50). Marshall Kraker had a busy meet in the field events, where he took fourth in the discus (128-2), eighth in the shot put (41-5.25) and ninth in the hammer throw (111-1). Freshman Jonathan Araujo placed sixth in the discus (125-5).

Cornell took fourth out of 17 teams in the 4x400 relay. The quartet of Matt McGowan, Reed Skoog, Scott Riedel and Adam Rooyakkers clocked in at 3:27.21. Sophomore Andrew Harter finished fifth in the 200 (22.91).

Coming up - The Rams will stay south over Spring Break and compete in the South Florida Invitational Friday, April 1 in Tampa, Fla.