Clever, Kraay Lead M. Track to a Memorable Season

For one special day in late February, the men's track team was the best in the Ivy League.

Granted, the Crimson, who hosted the event, finished fourth place at Indoor Heptagonals at the Gordon Track that weekend, well behind meet champion Princeton. But no team stepped up and performed beyond expectation like Harvard did that Sunday.

"I wasn't expecting [this much success], but I knew we were capable of it," said Ed Baker, who captained the men's cross-country team in the fall. "Lots of runners just stepped it up and ran better than they were supposed to, which is what needed to happen."

It was a disqualification of Baker on Saturday that ignited the Crimson rally on Sunday.

Baker ran a NCAA qualifying time of 8:07.04 to place second in the 3000-meter run. But his performance was nullified when meet officials decided that his abrupt lane change down the stretch had impeded the progress of eventual winner Peter Hollatz. Despite the protest of Coach Frank Haggerty, the ruling stood.

On paper, the decision cost the Crimson eight points in the standings, which would have put Harvard in second place for the meet, put the Crimson more than made up for that with the frustration it unleashed the next day.

"You can look at [Baker's disqualification] like it's eight points we lost, but we don't have them so we can't worry about it," said Harvard co-captain John Kraay. "I think it motivated us a little bit."

Kraay came up with the performance of his life that Sunday, throwing a personal-best 17.01 meters to place second in the shot put.

Freshman Tekky Andrew-Jaja and senior Arthur Fergusson placed second and third, respectively, in the triple jump to start the day's scoring in the field.

On the track, the Crimson was tearing up the competition just as well. Junior Shawn Parker took second in the 60-meter hurdles and Kobie Fuller placed third in the 400-meter dash.

Then came the most pleasant surprises of the day. Freshman Alasdair McLean-Foreman edged out several competitors ranked ahead of him to win the 800-meter dash, and sophomore John Traugott placed just a half-second out of first place in the 1000-meter run.

Baker placed second in the 5000-meter run to rebound from the previous day's disappointment. Although Baker failed to match his disqualified time in the 3000-meter run in the coming weeks, he still had an excellent year. He was the lone bright spot on a cross-country team that placed last at Heps, where he took third individually. He then beat out the two athletes who finished ahead of him that day at a subsequent NCAA qualifying meet.

The Crimson's outdoor season was highlighted by co-captain Chris Clever's bid for an NCAA title in the javelin (see related story, page E-1) and Kraay's victory in the Eastern shot put at Penn relays. The team as a whole, however, did not have as much success, placing just eighth out of nine teams at Outdoor Heps for the second year in a row.

Despite the rough conclusion to the season, the Crimson men's track team still had a year to remember. That one Sunday at Indoor Heps, in particular, will not soon be forgotten.