Erica Denhoff (Sideline Photos)
For a distance runner, the end of the cross country season is when the lights shine brightest. It is often the culmination of nearly five months of dedicated work—hundreds of quick laps on the track, thousands of miles out on the road—and probably more than a couple pairs of shoes. So was the path to championship form for much of the Cornell men’s team, from freshmen new to collegiate running to experienced veterans repping the Big Red for a final season. Different roles, but the same goal: Get ready for a late-season push.
It was with this mindset that the team took on the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships this year on October 28th in Boston. Cornell’s Tom Foster ‘24 described this meet as “old and storied.” Founded in 1934 with just seven schools, the Heptagonal Championships, “Heps” for short, have served for nearly ninety years as the Ivy League’s defining race. Even after stints with Army, Navy, and the University of Virginia, and ultimately the addition of Brown, the name of the meet remained in reference to its seven-team roots—a testament to tradition.
As a Central Jersey native, I had the privilege of watching Heps in Princeton, New Jersey back in 2021. My high school team ran an interval workout near the university course, finishing just in time to watch the gun go off. This time, two years later, an equal mix of new faces and returning vets made their way to Franklin Park for the race.
In keeping with the sentiment that progress is made by building on that of the previous weeks, Foster says that the work for Heps started during the preseason.
“We had about four weeks of easy mileage,” he said, describing what would effectively become the “base” for their training. Just like building a skyscraper, this sort of volume running ensures that everyone has a strong foundation to make it to the end of the season.
Erica Denhoff (Sideline Photos)
“We spent a lot of time together as a team,” said freshman Pierre Attiogbe ‘27. He explained how the team took a preseason trip to Lake Placid, which was a non-negotiable step of both team bonding and training to ensure the team got into racing shape.
“Getting into the season, we started doing more workouts… the focus becomes more on sharpening, there is a little bit of taper in the efforts,” Attiogbe mentioned, citing the individual skills necessary for peak performance out on the course. “You already have the base there, [now] it’s more about refining it all.”
And refine they did. The team would do speed workouts at ideal race pace, with some getting as fast as their one-mile races—a call back to track season.
Once the stage was set for the Heptagonal Championships, Cornell began scoping out the competition.
“I do think there’s something about Heps being particularly tight-knit,” said Foster. “Everyone knows everyone on these teams. One of my best friends from high school runs on the Columbia team, and I saw him in the race. Our guys ran into a bunch of the Penn guys when they were out training in Boulder two summers ago… when you only have twelve guys on each of eight teams… it’s just not that many people out there.” In some ways, we can imagine that this makes looking for competition a bit easier on the runners. Given the size of the conference, it’s not entirely uncommon for a runner to go into a race knowing exactly who to look out for down the stretch.
As far as team scouting goes, the men looked to the coaching staff for guidance on strategy. “We knew Princeton would be running deep in the front, Harvard was a really strong team, and that Yale runs strong as a pack,” Attiogbe explained. As a runner, understanding your competition is an advantage that really cannot be understated. And at this level, it’s anything but optional.
I remember a race from high school against a local rival. Going in, we figured that their first runner would come through the tape before ours. However, we knew they didn’t pack well, so we took advantage by running four guys in a tight group. We narrowly won. Lower stakes than Heps, of course, but a good illustration of how important this sort of team analysis is.
The day of the meet was mid-seventies and sunny, which is unusually warm for late October in Boston. As the men got used to the weather and warmed up, the pre-race jitters set in. “You’re nervous, a little antsy, but everyone’s excited,” Attiogbe recalled.
Both Attiogbe and Foster understand that Heps is where the team puts it all together. The men’s race was quick, seeing Rhys Hammond ’24 (sixth) and Damian Hackett ’25 (ninth) lead the way for Cornell with top-ten finishes. They came through the tape in 24:09.5 and 24:24.2 over the 8K distance respectively. Next for the Big Red was Attiogbe with 24:48.4, good for the second fastest freshman time at the meet this year. Jake Gelfand ‘25, Tyler Canaday ‘26, Derek Amicon ‘25, and Foster rounded out a strong top seven for Cornell. In cross country, a team’s score is decided by the sum of the places of its top five runners, meaning a lower score is best. Cornell finished third with 97 points, beating out Yale’s 107 but finishing short of Princeton’s and Harvard’s squads.
Erica Denhoff (Sideline Photos)
There is a lot to be said about the Big Red’s third place finish. The returning athletes are happy with the success, but hope to be competitive for second or first place in the Ivy League next year.
The key to success is trusting the natural flow of a team like this. Some depth will be lost as seniors graduate, but as new members come in, everyone ends up filling those spots and carrying on the torch. Until then, the leaders are doing their best to make that transition smoother.
When I asked Foster about what, as a senior, he did to help the underclassmen, he smiled; “A big part of being an upperclassman on a team like this is helping to carry on the culture.” He recalls looking up to the seniors when he was an underclassman to see how they built a productive team environment. “Cross country teams function well when everyone buys in.”
As upperclassmen, they looked to create an environment where being diligent about training and caring for the sport are valued. Foster seemed adamant that none of the team’s winning culture is possible without buying into those values, however simple they may seem. One thing that stuck with him was a quote from his high school coach, who preached that “you’ll give up on yourself long before you give up on the colors.” The team looks to give those colors meaning every time they spike up for a race.
Foster also explained that, on the day-to-day, the older guys are responsible for letting the new teammates know just how college meets function. Tidbits such as making sure everyone shows up in red and coaching them through the extra 3K of running (most college meets run 8K, as opposed to the standard 5K in high school) are important pieces of team maintenance that should never be overlooked.
Erica Denhoff (Sideline Photos)
Although so much leadership comes from experience, leading from the front is a daunting task in and of itself. “There’s some component of [cross country] that’s leading from the front,” Foster remarked when I asked him about race-day leadership. “Rhys [Hammond] is pretty consistently our front guy. I’ve been sitting right around sixth or seventh, and I’m great in that spot. I enjoy it.” Hammond has been successful leading the pack for Cornell in a number of big midseason meets. Meanwhile, at the NCAA Northeast Regional on November 10th, it was Hackett who led the pack for the Big Red in a blistering 30:04.4 over 10K.
Being the championship meet for the Ivy League, Heps is naturally a high-stakes meet. Still, the men are not stopping here. They currently await a committee decision on a bid to the NCAA cross country championships. For now, every meet, as Foster said, is effectively an opportunity to analyze. It is a chance to examine the preparation that helped the team get to where they are, the mistakes to be worked on as a team, and the details they can tune up on the individual level. With these observations, runners prepare themselves for future meets. Like a lot of sports, late-season cross country comes down to constant reevaluation and improvement. It’s what gets everyone through the tape. It’s what builds a winning team.
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