Track Squads Shine Like It's 1983

The Outdoor Heptagonal Championships at the U.S. Naval Academy this past weekend weekend were the scene of varied success for the Harvard Track teams, with the men finishing in third place, and the women in fourth.

A number of Crimson athletes earned first team all-Ivy honors based on their Heps success, and men’s co-captain Kobie Fuller, junior Chris Lambert and women’s co-captain Nicky Grant all set personal bests as Harvard capped a season-long turnaround.

Men

The men’s track team finished in third place overall behind Penn and Princeton. That finish was Harvard’s highest in nearly two decades, and was primarily the result of strong performances from five individuals. Juniors D.J. Patterson, Nathan Shenk-Boright and Matt Seidel, along with Lambert and Fuller, were the main contributers to the Crimson’s finish.

“We’re very pleased with our results,” Fuller said of the team’s best placing in Outdoor Heps since 1983.

Fuller finished in first place in the 400-meters with a time of 47.55 seconds, and he beat his personal record in the 200-meters with a time of 21.15. That was good enough for only second place on account of the showing by Lambert, who ran the 200 meters in 20.68. That time would have been a meet record, but the run was ruled wind-aided and therefore ineligible for record consideration.

That performance was supported by another near-meet and school record, this time in the 100-meter. Lambert clocked in at 10.19, but, as before, the wind helped his time and the old record was declared unbroken.

Lambert and Fuller were key components of Harvard’s 4x100 relay team, which finished .06 seconds behind Penn. Along with Lambert and Fuller, senior Shawn Parker and junior Sean Meeker finished with a time of 40.72.

The Crimson did not finish third on the speed of short races alone. Harvard also got points from its field events and from distance runners.

“Our depth definitely put us above some of the other teams,” Fuller said.

The distance pair of Shenk-Boright and Seidel contributedd 30 points to Harvard’s cause with a first-, a third- and two second-place finishes.

In the 5,000-meters, Shenk-Boright finished in second place with a time of 14:34.35. Seidel was less than seven seconds behind, 14:42.28, in scoring third place. They both finished behind Tom McArdle of Darmouth.

The order of finish was flip-flopped somewhat for the 10,000-meters, with Seidel winning the full ten points behind his time of 30:09.14. Shenk-Boright placed third, 10 seconds behind his teammate at 30:19.02.

The only field eventer to finish in the top three was Patterson, whose contribution to the team came from a first-place finish in the discus, which he hurled 50.84 meters.

Women

The Crimson finished in fourth place overall, behind Cornell, Brown, and Princeton.

Nearly all of Harvard’s points came from the field events, where the Crimson dominated.

“Our field team has traditionally been very strong, and they really stepped up,” co-captain Nicky Grant said.

On the track, senior Carrie McGraw earned points with a fourth place finish in the 400 and a sixth place finish in the 200. Her times were 56.24 and 25.08, respectively, both personal records.

In the high jump, senior Kart Siilats took first place with a jump of 1.8 meters, well ahead of the rest of the field, most of which was unable to clear more than 1.65 meters.

Junior Helena Ronner corralled two jumping events, taking the full 10 points in both the long jump and the high jump. Ronner’s long jump of 6.09 meters was a personal best and half a meter more than her nearest competitor. She also recorded an impressive 12.54 in the triple jump.

In the other portion of the field events, the throws, Harvard excelled as well.

Sophomore Johanna Doyle came in second place in the hammer throw, recording a distance of 56.44 meters.

Doyle was bested only by Grant, who earned a personal best yet again, as she does with nearly every new throw. Grant, who recorded a throw of 59.59 meters, celebrated along with Doyle by dunking themselves in the Sezern River.

“I set a personal record,” Grant said. “I’m happy that progress is being made. Doing it on such a stage is exceptional.”

Sophomore BreeAnna Gibson threw the discus 41.21 meters, earning Harvard the six points that came from a third- place finish.

The Heptagonal Championships were the last team meet of the year, but individuals from the men’s team will compete at the IC4A’s and the women will compete in the ECAC Championships this weekend.