On January 21, the Southwestern Spartans traveled to the 2017 Cornell Invitational in Mount Vernon. Early on in the track events, the Spartan female sprinters performed admirably. Younis Bese, Sisillia Seavula, and Kebrea Parker earned second, third, and fifth place finishes respectively in the 60-meter dash. Seavula then went on to finish first in the 200m dash with a time of 26.89 seconds.

On the men's side, Jeremy Newton and Ronald Henderson each earned two top six place finishes. Newton, in the long jump and triple jump events, and Henderson, in the long jump and high jump events. Both Newton and Henderson achieved new personal records in the long jump with leaps of 6.20 and 6.28 meters respectively.

In the distance events, Kevin Dietrich had team-leading performances in both the one-mile run and the 3000-meter run. Dietrich's most notable performance came in the 3000 run in which he finished third with a time of 9:54.75.

In the overall team rankings, the women finished sixth of six teams, with just five Spartans collecting an impressive total of 42 points after 16 scored events. The men ranked fifth of six teams besting Rockford with 43 total points.

"The tame weather that we've had this winter has allowed us to train outside without any limitations," commented Spartan Coach Jordan Strofaci. "I am proud of the 'Sunny and 75 degrees' mentality that my student-athletes have maintained. It may be 30 degrees and cloudy, but in my mind, it is a beautiful sunny and 75 degree day. It is all about perspective, and not allowing the things that you cannot control, take control of you."

The Spartans next competition is Saturday, Jan. 28, at The Dennis Young Classic, hosted by Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, where the Spartans will look to improve upon their encouraging start.