Harvard men take second, women claim fourth at New England Championships

The Harvard men’s cross country team finished second and the women placed fourth at the New England Championships this past weekend at Franklin Park in Boston.

The rain and mud made for a more difficult course, but did not keep the Crimson men from finishing with only 146 points in a field of 47 schools, a distant second to Brown’s remarkable 40 points.

Several schools, inluding Yale, held out a number of their top runners in both the men’s and women’s races in preparation for the NCAA Pre-National meet this coming weekend hosted by Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind.

Junior Sean Barrett and sophomore Andrew Lipkin led the way for the Crimson, finishing 14th and 16th, just four seconds apart at 25:25 and 25:29, respectively. Sophomore Ryan Hafer finished 29th in 25:50, followed closely by junior Peter Mullen, finishing 32nd in 25:53. Senior James Kelley rounded out the scoring for the Crimson in 55th at a time of 26:19 for the 8K race.

For the women, sophomore Lindsey Scherf finished in 17:30, second only to senior Katie Gwyther of Quinnipiac. Scherf’s performance, a 5:37 mile pace for the 6K race, helped the Crimson finish with 237 points—fourth of 44 teams, behind only Boston University, Williams, and Brown.

Sophomore Sarah Bourne was second across the line for Harvard, placing 33rd in 18:49. Closing out the Crimson’s top five were sophomore Lauren Walker, finishing 60th in a time of 19:16, sophomore Eliza Gardiner crossing 64th in 19:17, and freshman Jessica Bryant in 72nd place with a time of 19:26.

The women’s junior varsity team finished second to Brown and the men’s team finished 13th overall.

—ANDREW R. MOORE