The women’s cross country team won its first Ivy League championship in over 13 years on Saturday in a race that the team is not likely to ever forget.

Conditions for the race — which took place in Princeton, N.J. — were less than ideal. The teams were forced to compete in the snowstorm that hit most of the Northeast, leaving the course muddy and the runners freezing cold. The snow began as the men started their race first at 11 a.m. By the time the women’s race was over, three inches of snow covered the ground.

“The conditions were dreadful and they did a remarkable job of overcoming that,” said women’s assistant coach Artie Smith. “One word that comes to mind to describe how our team performed is that they were fearless. They didn’t let the competition, the nature of the meet, or the weather affect them at all.”

The women’s race started out slowly. Juniors Katie Kellner and Genna Hartung took advantage of this to take the lead and set the pace.

“I think we were all pretty determined to win,” Hartung said. “There was no other option. We knew that we were the best team there, and if we all put forth the effort we did, we could win.”

For six kilometers, the runners continued to battle the elements as they proceeded through the race.

“At the finish, [Genna Hartung] and I were in the lead pack, with a Columbia runner right by us,” Kellner recalled. “Coming into [the] last half mile, Genna came up behind me and said ‘Come on Katie, we have to do this for the team.’”

Kellner finished the race in fourth place, and Hartung placed fifth. Both earned first-team All-Ivy honors. Sophomores Emmie Shearer and Devin McMahon followed for Cornell, finishing 11th and 12th, respectively. Both earned second-team All-Ivy honors. 

The race ended with Cornell edging out second place Columbia by only two points.

“Every point mattered,” Smith said. “Columbia is a very good team — they competed well and [the race] could have gone either way. They had their best meet of the season and made it tough.”

The race might have gone either way if it had not been for senior Janel Parker, Cornell’s fifth runner, who finished the race in a sprint to secure a victory for the Red.

“Around four kilometers our coach yelled out to the pack I was running with that one of us was going to be the fifth runner,” Parker said. “Hearing that ... I started picking people off. With one kilometer to go everyone watching the race was screaming about the Columbia girl … and I just started sprinting.”

If Parker had not passed one more Columbia runner to finish 17th, the race would have left the two schools in a tie for first place.

“[Parker] deserves tremendous credit,” Smith said. “She passed between six and nine people in the last mile … and caught the Columbia runner right at the finish line. Her final 1,000 meters will always be remembered … she had a magical finish.”

Parker gives special credit to fellow senior and captain Meghan Brown.

“The night before the race, Meghan did a really good job of pumping us up,” Parker said. “[At the end] I remembered the talk from Meghan the night before … thought about it being my senior year and what that meant, and just went for it.”

“It was a very special weekend for the Cornell women,” Smith added. “They were tremendous. They’ve competed so well all year ... they didn’t let distractions get in the way — that’s what champions do. They really embodied all the things we’ve talked about all year … were certainly really tough and did it as a team.”

The Ivy champions were denied an awards ceremony due to the weather, but the team was still ecstatic and found time to celebrate after the race.

“Everyone was so excited,” Parker said. “It was surreal. What we’d just run through was so painful, I couldn’t even think. The coaches were speechless.”

The weather may have meant something different for Cornell than it did for the other teams competing.

“The weather was horrible,” Hartung said. “But we embraced that and realized it’s our weather, our Ithacan conditions, and all went out there and ran the gutsiest race I‘ve ever seen.”

“I’m so proud of all of my teammates ” Kellner added. “We were working together, that’s why we won.”

This is the fifth time in team history that the Red has won the Ivy League championships.

The men’s team also exceeded expectations this weekend, finishing fifth overall.

“Princeton and Columbia were definitely the best,” said junior Brett Kelly. “We were hoping to finish third, but we ran fairly well. Brown did really well.”

Host Princeton placed first, with Columbia and Dartmouth finishing second and third, respectively.

“We went into it hoping to surprise some other teams in the league,” said sophomore Gabe Heck. “We were not one of the favorites, so didn’t have the target on our backs … When you look at the ages of the guys on our team, with only one senior in the Top-12 … it’s a rebuilding year, but exciting as to what we can accomplish next.”

Kelly finished first for Cornell in 11th place. Heck placed 26th, with junior Max Groves right behind in the No. 27 spot. Junior Matt McCullough and freshman Ben Potts rounded out Cornell’s Top-5, placing 33rd and 35th, respectively.

“I think we felt pretty good about the results,” Groves said. “We’ve progressed through the league … people weren’t predicting us to do very well and we did better than people expected us to. We’re looking to the future, next year and at regionals.”

Both teams will compete at the NCAA Regional Championships in two weeks. 

“We’ll see if we can beat Brown this time, and other Ivy teams that beat us this weekend,” Groves said. 

The women’s goal for the season is to use the meet to qualify for nationals.

“We need to place in the Top-2 at regionals to qualify for nationals,” Parker explained. “We’re

best in second half of the season ... Things are going to start to pick up and we’ll see where that takes us.”