Brown, Comfere, Sukumar Pace Cornell Women at Ivy League Championships

PRINCETON, N.J. — Battling through soaring temperatures and two days of championship competition, the Cornell women's track and field team closed the Ivy League Heptagonal Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a fourth-place finish Sunday afternoon at Princeton University, totaling 52 points against the league's top competition.

Cornell pieced together points across the track and field events under sunny skies and temperatures in the 90s, highlighted by standout performances in the jumps, multis and middle-distance races.

Senior Paula-Marie Brown led the way with a bronze-medal finish in the heptathlon, totaling a personal-best 5,378 points to move into third all-time in Cornell history and 25th in the NCAA East Region rankings. Brown capped the competition with a heptathlon personal best of 5.91 meters in the long jump before running a lifetime-best 2:29 in the 800 meters — a 45-second improvement over the course of her career.

Sophomore Rikki Carver added points for the Big Red in just the second heptathlon of her collegiate career, placing sixth with a personal-best 4,668 points to move into seventh all-time at Cornell.

Cornell also found major success in the women's triple jump, where juniors Anika Sukumar and Elizabeth Graham both delivered breakthrough performances. Sukumar narrowly advanced to finals after recording her only legal preliminary jump on her third attempt before erupting for a lifetime-best 12.69 meters in the finals to place fourth. The mark moved her to third all-time in program history and into the top 50 of the NCAA East Region standings.

Graham followed with a personal-best leap of 12.45 meters to finish fifth in her first outdoor Heps appearance. Entering the meet ranked outside the scoring positions, the sophomore improved on every mark she recorded during the regular season and moved into fourth all-time in Cornell history.

On the track, the Big Red opened the day with a third-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay, as the quartet of Divine Bamgboye, Brianna Beckham, Natasha Redmond and Olivia Walters crossed in 45.47.

Freshman Sophia Comfere continued her record-setting season in the 800 meters, placing fifth in a personal-best 2:06.18 to again lower her Cornell freshman record. Senior Katja Jackson added an eighth-place finish in 2:10.68.

Cornell's 4x800-meter relay team of Riley Ebersole, Tenley Nelson, Fiona Lee and Jackson added more points with a fifth-place finish in 8:46.94, while the 4x400-meter relay squad of Elise Sawyer, Rachel Bethke, Sophia Comfere and Francine Stevens closed the meet with a season-best 3:40.51 to place fourth overall.

In the field events, Cornell narrowly missed additional scoring positions in a historically deep women's shot put competition. Senior Nicole Loy placed eighth with a lifetime-best throw of 14.81 meters, strengthening her No. 4 all-time mark in program history. Sophomore Claire Springer followed in ninth with a personal-best 14.37 meters, tying the No. 7 mark in Cornell history. Freshman Lauren Smith placed 16th at 12.71 meters.

Smith later added another breakthrough performance in the javelin, recording a collegiate-best 40.61 meters in the preliminary rounds to qualify for her first career Heps final before finishing eighth overall.

Sophomore Syna Sony narrowly missed the podium in the high jump, placing seventh with a personal-best clearance of 1.73 meters, while sophomore Johanna Stuard finished 10th at 1.67 meters.

Back on the track, sophomore Fiona Lee placed seventh in the 1,500 meters in 4:28.43, freshman Divine Bamgboye finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles in 13.99, and junior Rachel Bethke crossed eighth in the 400 meters in 56.84.

With the conference championship meet complete, Cornell closes the 2026 outdoor season with multiple additions to the program's all-time top-10 lists and a strong foundation of returning talent across the roster. The Big Red will now await selections for the NCAA East First Round, scheduled for May 27-28 in Lexington, KY.