M., W. Track Ready For H-Y-Ps at Invite

Harvard indoor track used last Saturday's Harvard Invitational to stoke its competitive fires and gain confidence in preparation for this weekend's Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet at Yale.

Both the men's and women's teams competed in individual events in the non-scored meet, and several athletes reached personal bests which give them momentum heading into the final leg of the season. However, most team members are skeptical of the possibility of team success.

"It was non-scored and low-key, so it was really not that important," said senior Killian Lonergan. "But next week is our second-biggest meet of the year, and we also need qualifying times for Heptagonals and Easterns."

Lonergan was on the men's distance medley team which broke the Harvard indoor record by two seconds with its time of 9:46:51. The other runners were Kevin Johnson, Darren Dinneen and Ian Carswell.

Carswell was invited to compete in the 3,000 meters at this Friday's prestigious Melrose Games, and Johnson also set a personal record (PR) with an individual time of 22.50 in the 200 meters.

"Kevin's been going well this year," said Harvard coach Frank Haggerty. "Others who have excelled are Tommy Mike, who has run our fastest 500 meters this year, and sophomore Scott Muoio, who has been running the three and five K better than he ever has."

The men's mile relay team also won, confirming its position as "the top Ivy contender for Heptagonals" in the eyes of sophomore anchor Joe Ciollo.

"We have kept the same four people for pretty much the entire season and expect nothing less than a gold," he said.

Ciollo also won the 400-meter event, setting an indoor PR of 49.39 seconds.

Because the meet was non-competitive, Muoio rested along with co-captain Mark Clayman, who strained his hamstring but has "thrown well in weight," Haggerty said.

On the women's side, several athletes have been peaking at just the right time. The distance medley relay team of Kathryn Moynihan, Lee Shearer, Margaret Angell and Margaret Schotte ran 12:05.70, which should qualify it for ECAC.

Heather Hanson has been consistently running personal bests in the 55-meter and 200-meter sprints, and Kristy Johnson set two PRs last Saturday in the shotput (40'6.25") and the weight (44'9").

"The personal bests are definitely a motivator for the last part of the season," Johnson said. "The 20-pound weight is a new event for me, and I have slowly been improving. I struggled with the shot but have now gotten back to where I was in high school."

Junior Sarah Lodewick won the triple jump with her best distance ever, 37'1.25". "She's starting to be consistent in both the triple and the long jump," Haggerty said.

Another winner for the women's team was senior Jessica Mikszewski, who won the 5K in 18:09 and was "way out ahead of anybody, so she didn't even anybody to push her," according to Haggerty.

Junior Alison Goldkamp finished second in the 800 meters, even though it was only her second ever race at that distance.

Despite good individual efforts, the teams' small size probably precludes overall team success.

"Princeton's the team to beat," Lonergan said. "I don't know if we can beat them. We have a small team, and that hurts us at sprinting and the jumps. We'll just have to do well at the distances and hope Yale and Princeton take points away from each other."

"Our strength is running from 400 meters and up," Haggerty agreed. "We're going to get hurt in long jump, triple jump and pole vault."

Lack of depth presents a problem for the women's side as well. "We have good quality but not a lot of bodies," Ailey Penningroth said. "But H-Y-P is always a grudge match, so we're not going to worry about distances or times."

So while the dedication or desire to win is not lacking, the big events like Heptagonals or next weekend's H-Y-P might remind Harvard of last weekend's Invitational. Some good individual performances, but no team score to speak of.