Strong Start For Track Fades Due To Injury

Sometimes it takes an exiting veteran’s wisdom to see the true strengths of a team.

In a season filled with promise—but also a season ended too soon by injury—an outgoing captain described the Harvard track and field teams the best.

“We are a young team that will hopefully improve with age,” co-captain BreeAnna Gibson said. “It takes hard work and dedication to be a successful team in a sport that is usually looked on as an individual venture.”

All season long, Gibson, along with the other seniors on both the men’s and women’s teams, seemed almost as concerned with the developing talent on their squads as their own personal achievements—which were just as impressive as those of the underclassmen.

A number of athletes—ranging from first-year sprinters to junior long distance runners—made great strides toward developing into a team that could challenge the usual powers in the Ivies. Unfortunately for the Crimson, this season’s success was constantly hampered by nagging injuries to a number of key contributors.

At the climax of the winter season, Harvard took home fourth at Heptagonals on the backs of athletes who missed most of the rest of the year due to injury.

“What’s encouraging is that we did better indoors than the Harvard team last year which was without a doubt more talented and deeper,” co-captain Onyechi Ezekwueche said. “Now we have to focus on getting more people healthy, on board and scoring so that we can grab a more respectable finish at Heps outdoors.”

McLean-Foreman took home the gold in the 100-meter race with a time of 2:25.94, a full three seconds better than his qualifying time.

Along with junior Tekky Andrew-Jaja—who finished second in the high jump—McLean-Foreman qualified for the IC4As, but would not participate in that event. Both would struggle with injuries for the rest of the season and see very limited action in their respective events.

Also at indoor Heptagonals for the men, Laine and fellow sophomore Lawrence Adjah also began what would be an indoor and outdoor sweep of the Ivy League in the triple jump by capturing the top two spots for the Crimson.

For the women, the day was not quite as sweet, as they took home eighth at the competition. Gibson led the way by picking up fifth-place finishes in both the shot put and the weight throw.

Due to the large number of injuries during the indoor season, Harvard had only two representatives at the men’s indoor IC4As and another at the women’s ECAC championships.

Laine—a week off his victory at Heptagonals—finished 12th for the Crimson’s best performance, while sophomore Christopher Ware also cracked the top 15, finishing 13th in the shot put.

The almost monthlong break following the end of indoor season provided an important break for both Harvard teams to rest and heal.

Beginning with the Bayou Classic on March 26-27, Harvard focused its energy on invitationals and other meets, as opposed to the intra-Ivy League dual competitions that dominated the previous season.

Nevertheless, once again, it came head-to-head with rival Yale in a dual meet that saw the highlight of the season for the women’s team.

While the men fell 97.5-61.5, the women squeaked out an upset victory over a larger Bulldog squad with key performances from every team member.

The Crimson women pulled off a stunning upset as they toppled Yale 82-80. Harvard’s field event athletes and runners—including the hurdlers who took five of the top six spots in their races—played a pivotal role in the victory.

“As a result of yesterday, we proved two things,” sophomore Mary Serdakowski said the day after the meet. “We proved to ourselves that we have the potential to beat very competitive teams when we give it our all. Also, we proved to the rest of the conference that we are not a joke.”

After competing in the New Hampshire and Princeton Invitationals, it was time for the last final push with the Outdoor Heptagonals—the biggest meet of the year—on May 8-9.

After a strong indoor performance against the other Ivy League teams, the result for the men outdoor was disappointing, if only because the team could not muster enough runners to improve upon its performance in the winter.

“All in all, in was a tough weekend,” senior James Albertine said. “I know everyone’s disappointed about the way both teams ended up overall; however, there were quite a few personal bests and good performances to write home about.”

Aside from the Laine-Adjah triple jump duo that swept again, the Crimson earned most of the rest of its points in only one other event—the shot put.

Ware registered a solid fourth-place finish on a throw of 15.55 meters outdoors. Junior Kristoffer Hinson followed up Ware with his own point-scoring toss of 15.40—good enough for fifth.

On the women’s side, Harvard managed to rack up a much larger number of points than in the winter, but still finished eighth overall.

Sophomore Laura Maludzinski provided the most excitement on the day by winning the 1,500 meter in the smallest margin recorded all year for a Harvard victory—.01 second.

“It was what they call a ‘kicker’s race’ and she ran it perfectly,” co-captain Beverly Whelan said. “Laura and I were boxed with 300 meters to go, and she made a gutsy move and passed the field in the third lane.”

Senior Johanna Doyle—who had been consistently at the top of the Ivy League, if not the Northeast in general—took home second in the hammer toss.

A week later, Harvard showed how despite its eighth-place finish at Heptagonals, it had key individual strengths. Competing in the IC4As, Adjah finished just 0.3 meter behind the winner of the triple jump, placing third for the Crimson.

The men’s team finished 22nd out of 50 teams, which was fifth-best in the Ivy League, just behind Princeton, Penn and Yale.

With this strong finish to the season, a number of Harvard athletes qualified for the NCAA Regionals. With the majority of those being underclassmen, the team cannot help starting to look forward to the future.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.