Cornell takes sixth at Luther Invitational

Cornell displayed balanced scoring and placed sixth out of 15 women's teams at the Luther All-American Invitational Saturday at Oneota Golf and Country Club.

Cornell's five scorers all finished in the top 45, led by senior Allie Jagielo's 17th-place showing. The Rams competed without a pair of key runners in Arden Stewart and Lauren Seemann.

"As a group, our women's team had a good outing at Luther," Cornell head coach Dan Schofer said. "We competed well and finished strongly in the last mile, despite the warm and humid conditions. We didn't run two of our top seven women, but the rest of the group didn't miss a beat."

The Rams scored 153 points and finished second among five Iowa Conference schools at the meet. Luther was fourth with 99 points.

Jagielo, who won the Dubuque Spartan Opener Sept. 1, clocked in at 19 minutes, 36 seconds over the 5K distance. The women's field included 215 runners.

Junior Elise Mead crossed the finish line in 20:13 for 27th place. Junior Leslie Smebak was 33rd in 20:25. Sophomores Laura Ettlin (43rd, 20:38) and Claudia Gonzalez (44th, 20:39) rounded out the team's scoring.

"Elise Mead and Leslie Smebak ran particularly well and are showing good improvement at this early stage of the season," Schofer said.

Cornell's top-7 included freshman Hannah Garvey in 68th (21:02) and junior Maria Helgeson in 84th (21:19).

"Maria Helgeson also had a great race. She worked hard in the offseason and is now contending for a spot in our top seven," Schofer said. "The key to our success this fall will be our ability to continue to keep our 1-5 spread small. To do that, we will need to stay focused on solid training and week-by-week progress."

Iowa Central claimed the women's team title with 53 points. Grand View's Obsie Birru was crowned meet champion, earning a 35-second victory in 18:19.

The Rams are idle this weekend and compete next at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational Sept. 23 in Rock Island, Ill. The women's race gets underway at 5:30 p.m.