Men’s Track Doubles Up Eagles

Co-captain John Traugott has always been willing to go the extra mile to win for the Harvard men’s track team. So in Saturday’s 96-48 season-opening win over Boston College, he had no trouble when he was forced to run an extra lap.

In a typical 1000-meter race, meet officials ring a bell to indicate the start of the fifth and final lap. But on Saturday, the bell rang at the actual finish, so all the runners—led by Traugott—continued on.

Traugott won the 1000 meters convincingly by over four seconds. His 1200-meter time wasn’t officially recorded, but he buried the competition in the distance.

“They miscounted, and [Traugott] just kept on going,” said Harvard senior Matt Seidel. “He didn’t look like he cared.”

The BC runners who finished far behind were not as amused.

“People looked pretty tired,” Seidel said.

Traugott won the mile event as well, with Seidel finishing right behind him. The latter also won his top event, the 3000 meters, easily.

According to Seidel, Traugott’s double set the tone for not only the team’s performance, but also its season.

“This is a good start,” he said. “We thought it’d be a lot closer, but we kind of blew them out today.”

While the seniors starred in the distance events, it was the freshmen who shined in the field. The Harvard freshmen won seven events—one more than the entire BC team.

Lawrence Adjah was the Crimson’s biggest winner with first-place finishes in the 60-meter hurdles, the 200-meter dash and the long jump.

Outside of Adjah, all the Crimson freshmen’s victories came in the field—James Rhodes in the weight throw, Chris Ware in the shot put, Samyr Laine in the triple jump and Clifford Emmanuel in the high jump.

Harvard has struggled to score points at Indoor Heptagonals—its championship meet—in recent years, but Coach Frank Haggerty ’68 named several freshmen to the team who appear ready to reverse that trend. Laine and Emmanuel both delivered performances better than any that Harvard had at Indoor Heps last year, and both are already performing near or above the level they need to score at Heps.

Harvard’s most outstanding performer, senior Chris Lambert—one of the United Kingdom’s top sprinters—will not be competing for another month, as he has a more long-term focus than the college season and Harvard’s dual meets provide him with no competition. In Lambert’s absence, Harvard sophomore Travis Hughes came up with the win in the 60-meter dash.

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu

M. Track 96, BC 48

Harvard Point Scorers

60: 1. Hughes 7.25, 3. Burns 7.28 200: 1. Adjah 23.50, 2. Burns 23.73 Mile: 1. Traugott 4:24.33, Seidel 4:25.25 400: 2. Patton 1:11.34, 3. Pasquesi 1:11.87 800: 3. Albertine 1:59.68 1000: 1. Traugott 2:34.61 3000: 1. Seidel 9:36.33, 2. Galebach 8:37.11, 3. Shenk-Boright 8:37.43 60 hurdles: 1. Adjah 8.52, 2. Hughes 8.78 4x400 relay: None 4x800 relay: None High Jump: 1. Emmanuel 2.03, 2. Buckley 1.92, 3. Wolf 1.87 Pole Vault: None Long Jump: 1. Adjah 6.83, 2. Hughes 6.65, 3. Buckley 6.49 Triple Jump: 1. Laine 14.23, 2. Hughes 13.94 Shot Put: 1. Ware 15.25, 2. Gelardi 14.88, 3. Hinson 14.24 Weight Throw: 1. Rhodes 13.81, 2. Preidis 13.10.