Track Posts Strong Showing at Dartmouth

No score, no problem.

The Dartmouth Invitational might not have kept team scores for its events, but the Harvard men and women’s track and field teams still headed up to the Leverone Field House in Hanover with competitive fire and left with an impressive showing.

“The meet was a good way for us to stay sharp for the upcoming Harvard-Yale-Princeton [event], which we need to attack with the same intensity that we will bring to Heptagonals,” senior Tekky Andrew-Jaja said.

Next weekend, the Crimson heads down to New Haven for its last dual meet of the season as it squares off with Ivy foes Yale and Princeton in a final intra-league tune-up for the Heptagonal Championships at the end of the month.

MEN

It is unfortunate for the Crimson that the Dartmouth Invitational was not a scored meet because, if it was, Harvard might have won the meet by leaps and bounds.

Juniors Sam Laine, Lawrence Adjah, and Travis Hughes swept the top three spots in the triple jump with leaps of 15.46, 14.82, and 14.04 meters, respectively. Laine’s leap gives him the best mark this season in the Ivy League by almost half a meter—an incredible margin. Hughes also took home second in the long jump with a leap of 6.56 meters. The jump was actually tied for first place, but Hughes was awarded second because of the tiebreaker.

“The jumpers were excellent and, with performances at that level so early, I can see they’re going to be putting out some huge marks when the big meets come around,” senior Alasdair McLean-Foreman said.

Last year, the tandem of Laine and Adjah took first and second, respectively, for the Crimson at Heptagonals, and look to be poised to repeat after their performances this Saturday. Looking beyond the league, the NCAA provisional mark is 15.50 meters—which both Lain and Adjah are fast approaching.

Another jumper looking to prove he will be among the top in the league, Andrew-Jaja won the high jump by clearing 2.08 meters. Andrew-Jaja’s jump puts him in a tie for the second-best mark by any Ivy Leaguer this season. David Pell of Cornell leads all with a leap of 2.11 meters.

“Last week I was able to jump well at home against the two other high jumpers in the top three,” Andrew-Jaja said. “However, I think that the best thing that I can take from my performance at Dartmouth this weekend, getting a personal record, is that it is uniquely confirmed to myself and the rest of the Ivy League that I am able to improve or past performances no matter the venue.”

In the running events, freshman Christopher Green took second in the mile with a time of 4:17.34, less than half a second behind the winner.

“Chris Green has developed really well over the season and I think he’s got a great shot at Heptagonals,” McLean-Foreman said. “He’ll have to have a great race but he’s an excellent competitor with an outstanding attitude so I’m very confident in him.”

Another freshman making a splash was Lu Haibo, who came through the 100 meter run in 2:39.00, good enough for sixth.

Harvard’s top long-distance runner, McLean-Foreman, did not compete in order to rest a suspect Achilles tendon.

“Dartmouth’s track is flat and very tight so it wouldn’t have been a good idea for me to run on it in light of Yale this coming weekend,” McLean-Foreman said.

In the throwing events, junior Christopher Ware grabbed fourth in the shot put 15.90 meters. Classmate James Rhodes took the same position in the weight throw with his toss of 15.20 meters.

WOMEN

Saturday could be called the night of the Freshman Four for the Harvard women.

The Crimson put together an impressive showing on the shoulders of four wins from its freshman class.

Rookie Dimma Kalu won the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.81 and the 200-meter race in 25.82. Earlier in the season, Kalu ran 7.77 for the shorter sprint and 25.13 for the longer—both of which place her as the third-best runner events in the Ivy League in those.

“I had the same sort of experience going from middle school to high school because I have always been pushed to get faster and score points for the team,” Kalu said. “I am still, however, getting used to the fact that generally people run slower on the indoor track, and it sort of feels like I am not doing as well as I personally can, but we’ll see how the season turns out.”

Classmate Erika Geihe also took seventh in the 400-meter with a time of 1:01.31—under two seconds behind the event’s winner—while Julia Rozier won the 500-meter run in 1:18.75.

With this young talent in the sprinting events—in which Harvard struggled last year because of lack of numbers and injuries—the Crimson is looking in good all around shape this season.

“We all came in with some desire to prove ourselves, and competing with and against athletes that are so much more experienced than we are just inspires us to do better,” Kalu said. “The thing I love about our team is that the upperclassmen put so much emphasis on the team aspect of track and field.”

Other first-year stand outs included freshman Sarah Bourne—who took the victory in the 3,000-meter run at 10:38.30; Lauren Walker—who took third in the 1,000-meter run, finishing at 3:02.96; and Clara Blattler—who cleared 3.36 meters to take second in the pole vault.

It was the older, more experienced athletes who made Harvard’s results an all-around impressive showing.

Maludzinski took home the victory in the 800-meter run by almost a full five seconds, crossing the line in 2:14.83 and blowing away the competition.

In the field events, junior Mary Serdakowski was second in the 60-meter hurdles, just barely missing breaking nine seconds—which she has broken this season—with a time of 9.09.

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